Wyll: he was 17, when he made the pact and he had to decide on the spot. Lae'zel comes from a culture that sees killing as a necesseity, which kind of makes sense, since they are fighting a pretty powerful foe. SHe learns throughout her journey though and can become a bitter person. Shadowheart was brainwashed and you can help her get out of it. SHe is the classical cult victim.
But this is what's a huge problem for me. Everyone's a "victim" (emphasis on the quotation marks). And personally I am super-tired of people playing the "victim" card.
I don't think everyone is a victim or even when they were they don't need to let that define them. True that Shadowheart and Astarion in different ways were shaped by what was done to them. But Wyll made a difficult choice at a young age, and still stands by it now and actually seems glad that it gave him the opportunity to save the city that he wouldn't have had otherwise: I wouldn't see him as a victim for that particular choice. Lae'zel is a product of her upbringing and believes in Vlaakith, but I don't think that makes her a "victim" unless someone is going out of their way to cast everything in that light in a way that yes would start robbing the concept of some of its power. As would calling Gale a victim of his ambition and insecurity (or of Mystra), rather than just seeing these as character traits that can cause him problems or that he can rise above. But for me it's one hallmark of a decent RPG character that we can interpret them in different ways and it's feasible that they can develop in different directions. And personally, I do think the BG3 companions stand up very well against BG2 ones. Like fylimar I have issues with some of the latter, and much as I love the game don't particularly rate most of the new companions introduced for BG2, but I agree that's really taking us off topic.
What feels most relevant here is not what I or you or any individual thinks of the characters - of course opinions will differ - but that some or all of them resonated with a lot of people and helped make them fans of the game, which I think is pretty undeniable.
Though I agree with folk who have said it's not any one thing that has made BG3 so popular (and, in my view, so good) but an alchemical mix of different factors.
