It might seem random to some, but I am of the firm belief that Barcus Wroot—the ironhand gnome you can encounter throughout your journey in Baldur’s Gate 3 that always seems to get into trouble—would have been an excellent addition to the main party. I find it a little cowardly when a fantasy RPG game like Baldur’s Gate 3 only has companions that are conventionally attractive or young. It’s especially disappointing when said games seem to ignore their non-conventionally attractive fantasy races, especially the ones that are based off real-life disabilities. As I’ve been replaying the Baldur’s Gate 3, I found myself liking Barcus Wroot more and more, eventually realizing he had so much potential to be worthwhile companion who fit into the plot and the world-building of Faerun.
As much as this is a post advocating the potential to be a companion that Barcus Wroot had, this is equally a critique of the game not having a companion at least similar to him. All the companions you can recruit in Baldur’s Gate 3 are conventionally attractive, on the younger side (at least physically), and can be romanced excluding Jaheira and Minsc. As much as I love the companions, it’s a little sad. None of them are gnomes, dwarves, or halflings, and while I’m sure they did not intend to be ableist, I feel that it subconsciously contributes to this idea that people that these fantasy races were based off aren’t “attractive enough” to be a main character, romance option, or focus. It’s well known that these kind of races are based off people with dwarfism. This is a complaint I’ve had for other games as well of course, for example I found it very disappointing that I could not pursue Varric from the Dragon Age series as a romance, just because the developers did not think the players would want to date a dwarf. This is a large part of why I think Barcus Wroot would have been a great companion choice and representation. He is a short, bald man with older facial features, so not the typical societal beauty standard, yet I’ve still seen a large amount of people online wishing they could romance the guy.
If you do not remember him or left him to die on the windmill in Act 1 (be that by accident or not), he is an NPC who can appear in each act of the game. You usually find him in a pretty precarious situation where he’s in need of saving—Act 1 tied to the windmill in Blight Village, being bullied by goblins; right before the start of Act 2 where you find him enslaved and digging the true soul Nere out in Grymforge; and finally act 3 with the rest of the ironhand gnomes in their hideout near the entrance to Baldur’s Gate.
Why Barcus Wroot?
Personality wise, I think he would fit the main party quite well with his witty remarks and dry humor. When you first meet him you can tell he is suspicious of your kind gesture to save him, being discriminated against as a deep gnome he expects you to exploit him. Though when you first meet him, he is somewhat hostile but is still grateful. He starts to trust the player after saving him from enslavement. You are then able to invite him to stay at your camp for a short time. The reason he keeps getting in these unfortunate situations is because he is searching for his friend Wulbren Bongle, and also just has laughably bad luck it seems. As you get to know him a little more, you can tell he’s just a loyal and determined guy who risks danger venturing alone to find his friend. Going from his distrust and apprehensiveness toward the player to the friendship you can have with him in the late game is very sweet to see, even with him just as an NPC. It could have been even sweeter to bond with him like that as a companion. There is also his potential for interesting character interactions and banters with the other companions, given his snarky yet awkward personality, especially with Minthara since she’s a Lloth-sworn drow—the main slavers of deep gnomes.
Barcus is also an ironhand gnome. Clan ironhand is a known faction of deep gnomes in the underdark for their inventive skill and magical engineering. They are quite literally just Artificers, the Dungeons & Dragons class that specializes in invention, though Artificers are not a class implemented in Baldur’s Gate 3. There are a lot of mods that exist that allow the player to play as an artificer, but a canonical companion as a representation of the class would have been awesome. Not only would Barcus be a cool addition to the party as a master inventor, his presence would also provide a perfect opportunity to delve more into the lore of the Underdark region and deep gnome vs. gondian drama. Even as an NPC he ties surprisingly often into the main plot in Act 2 and 3, since he is the one who tells you about Wulbren being at Moonrise Towers, and then in Act 3 where the ironhand gnomes come into play with the steel watch factory questline. Though he has no tadpole, it would have felt completely natural for him to join the party if you agree to help him find Wulbren at Moonrise. Like Jaheira and Halsin, he could have just been another tadpole-less companion that had reason to travel with you. The ironhand gnome questline would thus be his personal character quest that ties in with the story, like most of other companions have.
I can guess why Larian did not add artificers as a class to the game. Since there are just so many classes one can choose to play as in Dungeons & Dragons, it would have taken extra time to add another class to the game. If they did not want to add artificers, an alternative could have been him being a permanent addition to the camp as a trader. This idea stems from the pair that joins your camp in Dragon Age: Origins, with Bodahn and Sandal being a fun and useful addition to the camp as merchants with dialogue options. However, if too many companions to write and fit into the story was part of the reason for no gnome, dwarf, halfling etc. party members, they really did not need to add Halsin as one, especially since he majorly stops being relevant to the plot after Act 2. That’s a whole different subject to delve into though, but seriously even though I like Halsin, I would have mostly certainly picked Barcus Wroot over him had I the choice or say in it. It’s just such a shame that the lack of non-conventionally attractive companions in fantasy RPGs is still so prevalent.
Featured Image: Larian Studios (via fabulalice)
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