Originally Posted by fylimar
This - so much. Halsin especially makes zero sense as a companion. The amount of work, that was put into making him work and he still is not really a chaarcter compared to the other companions and even side characters like Barcus, Rolan, Raphael, Ethel etc. have more going on for them than Halsin.
I wouldrather see Halsin and Minthara removed and put the energy for their bugfixes into the story and maybe the other companions.

Im gonna disagree here. Halsin can and does make sense as a companion, Larian just did it badly and sloppy.

There is an uptick in goblin activity near the grove due to the cult. He goes to investigate and gets captured. When you rescue Halsin he senses youre infected. Hes been held captive by the cult and learns there is traffic to and from moonrise, therefore moonrise is a hub of cult activity. Moonrise is also in his homeland, which is affected by a shadow curse. He concludes the two are related somehow and decides to join you. He helps you with the cult and your tadpole, you try to help him with the curse. After fighting ketheric he realizes whats going on has become much bigger than expected, as it did for everyone. Theres a bjgger threat now and it threatens the world as a whole, and he stays with you because youve become lovers/allies and he is also a good alligned hero character.

Its a decent and simple enough story and it makes sense as to why he would become a companion.