#of course ANOTHER big part of it is that Wyll is the only black companion

[icapturedthecastle]

I think a big part of this is the difference between how player-involved their individual quest lines are. Out of the three of them, Astarion's personal quest--and consequently his romance quest--is extremely player-involved, and the outcome of it hinges on you having developed some level of relationship with him and had an impact on him.

On the other end, Gale's personal quest--and thereby his romance--is slightly more involved, but it can pretty much be entirely done from talking to him in camp, and never taking him with you except for the final section of it. And even there, in his meeting with Mystra, the culmination of his personal journey, your character isn't actually there with him. You can suggest the kind of thing he should say, but you don't actually get to be involved, certainly not the way that you are in the Cazador confrontation.

And for Wyll, it's even less so. Pretty much the entirety of Wyll's character arc can be done without him in your party: finding Karlach, finding out about his dad, rescuing Mizora and breaking his contract, Gortash's inauguration, rescuing his dad, etc.. And the only part of his quest that he actually does have to be there for--the final Mizora contract confrontation--is done in camp, so he never actually has to travel with you.

Astarion, by contrast, has a ton of unique reactions and personal quest moments scattered throughout the game. You get more out of his story by taking him with you, in a way you don't with most of the other companions.

And then there's the Dark Urge, who's romance is basically tailor made for Astarion--to the point where the writers involved have specifically said that he gets the most unique Durge romance interactions. (this is not a dig on the writer, they specifically called out that they wished they had been able to do that for everyone, but there simply wasn't time.) Two people struggling with the darkness inside of them, and wanting to be more than the monsters someone else made them. It's a poetic parallel that you just don't get with anyone else.

And that's really too bad, because Wyll as a character has the potential for a ton of really great, unique reactions to things in the game, particularly once you get to city in Act 3. He should have a more involved quest line.

i love them all but you know this is true