#what was Wyll thinking

[autistic-fool-with-ideas]

Xiv, after hearing about Mizora’s bullshit towards Wyll: hell yeah let’s make nonsense noises at her

[steelart]

nobody took my pen away so the hades-crossover-fever continues. i’m ill

others: the dark urge (OC); minthara (bg3), karlach (bg3), shadowheart (bg3), gale (bg3), halsin (bg3), lae'zel (bg3), astarion (bg3), kotallo (horizon)

[lazylittledragon]

ok look i love astarion with my whole soul and this might be an unpopular opinion but post-brain, i don’t think he’s fashionable. i think he knows how to dress well and likes wearing nice clothes but i really feel like 90% of the time when he’s at home he would just want to be comfortable. i think this man wears dad slippers and owns an ungodly amount of sweaters and comfy loungewear. furthermore i would like to put forward that the person who DOES put together a fucking Look every single day of his life is wyll fucking ravengard. in this essay i will

[krembruleed]

Height comparison chart based on the in-game models

Dragonborn Durge is 6'8" or 204cm. Halsin and Minsc are 6'7" or 200cm. Karlach is 6'4" or 192cm. Devil form Wyll is 6'1" or 185cm (the horns net him ~2 in / ~5cm!) Human form Wyll, Astarion, and Gale are 5'11" or 180 cm. Jaheira, Shadowheart, Minthara, and Lae'zel are 5'7" or 170cm.

The models are a little bigger in Blender than they would be in the real world. Devil Wyll was 6'7" going by his model in blender, which is just...Not Correct.

This could be because my extracts scaled slightly wrong when i imported them into blender, or the in-game scale is slightly larger than the real world, or they're just modeled a little taller than they're meant to be to make them look biggg. (my vote is that i fucked the scale. rip y'all's estimation of my intelligence.)

Whatever the reason, I knew that they were all scaled wrong in the same way. This means that instead of giving up a futile pursuit, I could do math to figure out something more reasonable.

We happen to know that Astarion is "approximately 5'11"."

I used that as a baseline. So, with our scale established, we get something like this:

Other notes:

Shadowheart/Jahiera/Minthara, Minsc/Halsin, and Gale/Astarion/Wyll share the same heights because they use the same body model.

I'm decently certain that githyanki share an armature with elves/half-elves/drow/humans, so even though the gith body model looks different, Lae'zel is the same height as the other gals to line up with their armature's bones.

I didn't include hair or head accessories (like Shadowheart's) in the total height (that's cheating).

I did include Durge's and Karlach's horns in their overall height, but Karlach's really don't add much (maybe a cm or 2).

Average height worldwide (on Earth) for men is 5'9"/ 175 cm, and for women is 5'4" / 161 cm, so they're all quite tall, but mostly still within a standard deviation of the average.

Except for Karlach, Halsin, and Minsc, who are in the 99.9th percentile for height! They're not tall, they're huge.

[ranger-jahen]

I’ve seen several posts recently floating the idea of Wyll having all the right qualities to be a knight, and while I don’t necessarily disagree on principle, I also don’t think that’s the most accurate translation of his character to a knight au, because if you put him in a dynamic between a regent and their knight, he would be the regent.

Wyll would be the perfect noble character to a brave and devoted knight because he would return that loyalty and ardency in kind, and he would be the most brilliant shining example of a worthy charge for a knight to aspire to protect. I don’t doubt that Wyll would carry out the duties of knighthood with nothing short of unwavering passion, but his themes and background, if reimagined in another setting, would place him in the role of the prince, not the knight.

If you asked Wyll to serve another hero, he would do it with honor and fervor. He would be an impeccable knight. But Wyll deserves to be the hero himself. And I rather like the idea of a devoted knight serving him. Because also, c’mon, you know he’d fall in love with that knight right back.

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

I know a lot of people have drawn Astarion in the Fallen Angel pose but I think it suits Wyll just as nicely, especially considering his story arc & relationship with his father

[geezmarty]

we all know that wyllstarion goes crazy as hell but you really have to think about it from Wyll’s perspective. You’re the most fairy tale brained man on earth whose life is a continued sequence of romantic and heroic ideals set up to fail. You want to be a heroic duke and save your city but wind up making a pact with a devil. You want to use that pact for good and are almost (or straight up) tricked into killing an innocent. You go on the most princely quest of all to ask a dragon for his help and we all know how that ends. And then in comes Astarion jangling like the most weaselly evil court advisor, a vampire no less and you’re like actually fuck it this slippery eel is where it’s AT. and this time you actually do get a happy ending with it. it goes crrrrazyyyy

[nysscientia]

okay but Wyll is like. a prodigy, actually. and I want to talk about that more

like he is a folk hero for a reason. it's not just because he's so nice to people. he is also an incredible adventurer.

when you meet him in the Grove, he is on a level with you—but dialogue makes it clear that's because the tadpole fucked with his capabilities. if you have him around and hear his little interparty exchanges and reactive lines, he talks about things he's done as the Blade of Frontiers, and they include wrestling a giant one-on-one, and fighting a dragon. by himself.

he fought a dragon by himself!!

like (spoilers for end of game), even when you fight a dragon in the finale, you're not doing it ALONE. you have 3 other party members and as many allies as you care to summon. WYLL WAS ALONE IN THE WOODS WITH WHATEVER SUPPLIES HE COULD SCRAPE TOGETHER AS A SOLO ADVENTURER. AND HE FOUGHT A DRAGON.

by all accounts, I think it's reasonable to guess that before the tadpole, he was more powerful than the level 12 cap that's built into the game. and sure, he's a warlock drawing power from a bond, but most D&D lore I've encountered build in the idea that warlocks need a certain amount of skill and prowess to handle the power offered to them by their patron—there's a reason warlocks and clerics still level up, rather than just shooting to the top of the ladder. PLUS, he had to know how to use that power effectively.

and then!! (spoilers for epilogue) if he does the Avernus version of his ending, he's become a ranger within the 6 months since you've last seen him. and not like, he took a level or two in ranger and he's working his way up to it. he tells you about devils he's killed that are on par with the dangers y'all faced in your adventures—and he's doing this either with only Karlach for company, or possibly even by himself (??? I've only ever had him go with Karlach, I can't stand it). so. he is ALSO now one of the most powerful RANGERS in the realms. IN 6 MONTHS.

which makes sense! he wouldn't lose all his adventuring knowledge and skills just because the pact is ended! but to master an entirely new discipline, magic and all, in such a short time??

WYLL RAVENGARD HERO OF THE REALMS. WYLL RAVENGARD GENIUS OF ADVENTURE. WYLL RAVENGARD CAN DO ANYTHING HE SETS HIS MIND TO

[phagein]

i need to smoke weed with him

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

Part of the reason I find Wyll to be such a compelling character is that he is such a good person, but in what I think is a kinda unique way. 

I've seen a few criticisms of how quickly Wyll seems to switch sides in his initial confrontation with Karlach; how fast he goes from convinced he must kill her to letting her live. For me though, this makes perfect sense. 

The decision Wyll makes in that confrontation not actually whether or not to kill her; he has to decide whether or not Karlach is innocent, but once he's confirmed that, it's not a question.

He commits so quickly to Karlach because he doesn't have to choose whether or not to kill her in that moment; he already decided seven years ago. 

Because at seventeen years old, he decided he would sacrifice anything for the safety of others. 

At seventeen years old he decided that his own life, comfort and happiness was never worth the cost of someone else's. 

And so at twenty-four, he learns the devil he's been chasing is a person, and a victim, and an innocent, and the decision is already made up. 

Because Wyll Ravenguard at twenty-four is who he was at seventeen, and twenty, and ten. 

And to me that's one of the coolest things about him.

There's a separate post I'd like to make about how Wyll never loses his childhood wonder of the world- and I think there's a very similar principle here. Wyll grew up hearing stories of knights who slay monsters and heros in shining armor, and he took those stories and loved them and held them close to his chest. 

And then he's seventeen and a devil asked him if he wants to be a hero, and he's not an idiot; he understands the price of saviourhood so he says yes. 

And so when he meets Karlach, it's never really a question of if he'll kill her. It's just a matter of him finding the courage. 

Because he says "you don't know what you're asking of me" and he's absolutely right, we don't. But Wyll understands the cost; he's understood it for seven years. I'll bet anything that when Wyll Ravenguard made his pact with a devil to save tens of thousands of souls, he promised himself and his city and his father who wouldn't listen that he'd only ever use his pact to help and be good, and when it comes down to it, he sticks to his word. 

Because above all, Wyll Ravenguard is a man who knows who his is and what he beliefs, and who sticks to his principles no matter what, and for me that's incredibly compelling.

[jupitermayyy]

It will always be weird to me how straight men hate Astarion 😂

some say he is too feminine which makes me wonder what exactly are those „feminine“ traits of his? Being bitchy and whiny? Yeah thanks a lot for associating his „negative“ traits with women. If it’s because of his mannerisms and way of speaking, it would be even more weird, because how else is an arrogant, medieval man from noble background supposed to speak?? Like Halsin?? 😭 that’s how vampires have been portrayed in media since forever.

If anything Wyll would be the stereotypically „feminine“ one, since he is super empathetic, sweet, dances, and reads romance books. The guy literally twirls you when you kiss while Astarion grabs your ass lmaooo

Astarion is a guy who seeks power and control, thrives on dark humour and dissing other people…these men should love him! 😂

Anyway people are allowed to dislike characters since it’s literally just a game, but why do they feel the need to mention it every time completely unprovoked?? Like you’ll see a normal video of Astarion and they’ll always say shit like „He is so overrated I literally stake him as soon as-„ STFU no one asked 😩

I feel like there’s a bunch of grammar mistakes in here lol. English isn’t my first language sorry

[pinnithin]

trying to do the right thing in a harsh world and keep getting fucked over by devils, wanna kiss in the firelight about it

[paintalyx]

my mom said we can't be friends if you don't like wyll. yeah even if you don't care about him. no sorry i don't make the rules but she's right you know

[slayerdurge]

You know, I think one of my favorite things about a super evil play through is actually how hard it is to net approval with even the most potentially evil-leaning companions.

Astarion talks a big game about how much he likes violence and evil, and he does often give you approval for those types of actions, but you get this distinct impression from interactions with him that he's just sort of put on a permanent mask. I saw this post going around that Astarion dislikes it when you are very benevolent and heroic because he's thinking "How can there be so much goodness in the world but none of it was ever for me? It's not fair." And I think that's true. And I think when you actually take him down the road he claims he wants to go down, he takes on this mentality of "Ah, yes. Of course. I knew it. The world is without love." And he tries to pretend that it doesn't bother him but there are moments you can see it breaking through that it does. That's why I'm at the end of Act 1 of nonstop evil and I can't get him past medium approval.

On the other hand, I can't even get Shadowheart past neutral approval. She goes back and forth on giving me approval and disapproval, and, in my experience, she does the same exact thing in a good play through. I always find it hardest to predict what Shadowheart will approve of or disapprove of because she's so inconsistent. I think this is because her whole story is about the fact that she doesn't know who she is. I mean, she literally can't remember much about her life, to begin with. But also, she's in a state of indecision, not only does she not remember who she is, but she hasn't decided yet who she wants to be. Or more precisely she feels like who she wants to be is not a real option. She is definitely the companion (of the ones I actually had) who reacted most poorly to raiding the Grove. She got drunk and she went off about how it's not a real victory if you're killing people who can't even defend themselves. But then the next day she acted totally different. She was sober, and she took on this mentality of "Goblins killed some people. They didn't kill us. Time to move on." So she reasserted this control over herself that she has on most of the time, that had mostly only slipped because she was so upset and because she was drunk.

Lae'zel has been the easiest for me to get approval with. She got up to high approval very quickly, and she's currently at very high approval and stays there consistently. I think this is because she's way more honest than either Astarion or Shadowheart. She really is what she says she is. She's ruthless. And I don't actually mean that she inherently has to be evil. It is very possible to take her down a good path and convince her to embrace ideals of freedom. But I do think that her persona is far more honest than either Astarion or Shadowheart's is. And I think this makes sense because she was raised in a whole society of believers in "might makes right" who have believed in that for many generations and she was given chances to excel in that society rather than completely victimized. This is very different from Astarion because he was always a victim and never had an opportunity to actually strive for power. It is likely more similar to what Shadowheart would have experienced, though I think her memory loss complicates this, but it also just seems like Shadowheart doesn't take to ruthlessness as naturally. They both had to adopt that mentality because it was the only way they could survive, but I think Lae'zel is just better at it because she's just a way more straight-forward person. I think it's also why if she does decide to go against Vlaakith, it's an instant 180-degree change in her allegiance. She doesn't have to waver like Shadowheart does in regards to Shar, she just goes "This is what I believe now." and just switches.

Anyway, yeah... you learn so much about them on an evil play through... can't wait to torture them some more.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

I feel like Wyll and Gale would have the "do you want a quickie" "you mean a QUICHE???" interaction but it's Gale mispronouncing "quiche" because he's only ever read it in books and it's Wyll who actually knows what a quickie is

[archduchessgortash]

Holding Wyll's face gently with both hands as I say, "His first duty was as your father. He should have chosen you."