#fuck no a lot of Tavs are in the same boat as these idiots

[transkingcobra]

Also just. Every one of the origins is a follower.

Lae’zel knows what’s going on with illithid bullshit - but she’s no leader of her people, she’s fighting to be seen amongst her people by her queen. She’s also in a very different place with very different people - while she mentions subordinates so she may have some experience with leading, she is still very young so that experience will be short, these are not fellow gith she has to deal with, and the violent ways she leans with her preferences are a very different set of skills for searching for a crèche in this unknown area.

Shadowheart may be in the grooming process to become a leader, but she doesn’t know that, and she’s nowhere near being allowed a position remotely close to a leader - Viconia never believes her good enough, and constantly puts her down. She’s not allowed to lead. And generally speaking, you have a gith with you. The gith won’t trust someone who just took issue with her race, and Shadowheart won’t trust a gith, so that defaults to Tav/Durge.

And so by this point typically you already have a set leader, even really before Shadowheart, but of course you don’t have to have any of these people when meeting a companion for the first time.

Gale does not seem the kinda guy used to group cooperation. When you’re the poster boy for gifted kids, your focus is on what you yourself can do, how good you are at it, in this case how good is he with magic. That isn’t much of a group effort, that seems simply a case of studying and practice, at most with a teacher to guide and peers to bounce off of, but not to a collective goal. Even outside of a classroom, Mystra was his teacher then imbalanced lover - he was never in the leading position. He’s book smart, he can cast spells, he can be the devil’s advocate yet try to steer your opinions towards good, but he’s no leader. And then he just spent a year in isolation speaking to no one but Tara. His social skills in general are gonna be shaky.

Astarion hasn’t been able to lead his own life let alone anyone else’s for two centuries. He doesn’t know what to do, even without the “I’m not a details person” mindset. Also: he’s an escaped pet. He needs protection. He doesn’t much care about anything but surviving and being free at the end of all of this. And the easiest way to have protection here is to let someone take the lead and want to protect you, not demand it from them. So his goal is to get the important people on his side - the leader will unify the group to his goal, or (iirc) going for the strongest (touchable) member, Lae’zel, should the leader not play along.

Wyll is quite honestly my personal favorite for choosing a leader among the origins. But he’s still not used to leading people. He’s second youngest and been alone for seven years - before that he was also no leader, he was still a teen. He knows how to fight, but it seems he’s been on his own this whole time for it. When you recruit him it’s pretty much either “I’m gonna do my own thing with this devil but if we find a cure for this worm that’s cool too” or “oh shit I’ve been lied to I guess I’ll hang with you because you’re right and I need help if I’m to figure out this worm.” So he either doesn’t care about the tadpole but will accept the help, or he’s now feeling lost after the deception and still needs help with the tadpole.

Karlach is another one who hasn’t had autonomy for years, she couldn’t lead her own life. She took orders to fight in the blood war and before that took orders from Gortash, a man she looked up to, to protect him. She’s a soldier and a damned good one but she’s not the type to call the shots because she isn’t a planner - she can even get herself arrested trying to get to Gortash on her own. She’s the type to run headfirst into a fight with little thought - which is fine when you’re being told “go here and fight,” but is not sustainable to do all the time as your only plan, especially for how big and complex the journey in the game becomes.

And then you have the other companions - Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, and Minsc. Mostly these guys are going to follow your lead because you’re already the leader.

Halsin is done being a leader and never wanted to lead anybody to begin with. And at first he’s not even there to help you with the tadpoles, he’s helping around in camp to travel with you since you have the same destination - so it’s safer for him to get there. If you help him lift the curse, he stays and helps in return. You are already the leader and again he’s done leading, but also you are the one to make the plans to help him while also hunting down your own cure. And if he’s coming with you to act 3 - your plans work.

Minthara I honestly am not sure I can speak much to her character but - your plan saved her. Her plan got her tortured and tadpoled. It is the pretty logical solution to let your rescuer lead in such a situation. You are her only safety, and if I remember correctly she doesn’t even think the others care for her at all - they just follow your lead.

Jaheira is honestly to me a weird one to have tag along but I can see the why. She is also a leader, but for her she can lead her people from a distance. The Harpers she’s leading are following orders and snooping around and they don’t need her personally there all the time even if they are constantly acting as one group - which I feel like they don’t for such a secretive thing, groups get noticed. Her Harpers are pretty much assumed to be a well-oiled machine - I don’t expect her to bring people she doesn’t trust into the shadow cursed lands, nor do I expect her to send people after Minsc that she can’t trust do the job without her either. So for her with the tadpoled group, it’s already got a leader, but it is also not entirely her fight to lead. You are leading the fight against the Absolute because you have the one thing that keeps the Absolute at bay, and she’s offering to join that fight directly. Not as an ally to the cause to work separately, but a direct member of the party working towards the defeat of the brain. She is a hero, after all.

Minsc is, well, Minsc. He follows Boo. He follows Jaheira. And he’s only alive because you lead the party to save him. Jaheira puts her trust in you and is following your lead, so Minsc is of course going to do the same.

People wonder how Tav became a leader so easily and let me tell you: after being in several projects, majority of people really do appoint leadership to the very first person who glances at the wheel of the ship. Most people want to be given a task and do the task. Anyway I'm just like Tav for real irl please demote me I beg I do not want to make decisions