About Volo in BG - I played a lot of BG and I had to check the wiki to find out where can you find him in game. What I'm saying is that his roles in the early game was nothing, just a short cameo. He wasn't a character. Just a cool NPC. Bg3 did much more with him. I would claim they gave him a role similar to the one dandolion has in the Witcher - a non fighting companion that is there for humour.
Guys, characters like Volo or Dandelion are literally staple characters that have been around in one or the other form since the invention of storytelling. No matter which one was earlier - even he would be "plagiarism" of earlier stories and books.
And that's ok, because stories/games/movies are "evolving". You wouldn't have BG3 in this form without Lord of the Rings and you wouldn't have Lord of the Rings in this form without Norse Mythology. You have to "steal" such ideas to a certain extent.
