@Frozenkex
It was clunky in the way they handled the transfer of the Astral Prism from Shadowheart to you, I agree, though I do think that your version of events might have been bugged a bit? Shadowheart was in my party and protected us near the Goblin Camp while the Astral Prism was in her possession. At the Creche, it was still in her possession, but with the way the game presents dialogue choices to the party, I personally viewed saying that "It's mine by rights" would be more on the lines of speaking for the group as a whole rather than my character specifically. Within the Astral Prism, the Dream Guardian for some reason chooses me specifically to talk to one-on-one and once I come out of it, the artifact goes to me. For me, the next time I talked to Shadowheart there was a conversation option to talk about how the Astral Prism switched from her to me. I could even try to give it back, but she'd decline saying that the Astral Prism has a mind of its own anyways and it made the choice to stick with me, as well as saying that all that mattered at that point was that someone in our group was carrying it so we'd have the protection we needed. So then by the time I talked with other companions, Voss etc., it was clearly established for me that I was carrying the artifact.
Even my unbugged version of events feels like an impractical way to handle the Astral Prism ending up with the PC character, though. It would probably have been much easier for the Dream Guardian to establish me as the holder of the artifact towards the entire group and then upon waking up finding it in my pocket instead of with Shadowheart. It would also provide a reason why I'm up front and leading conversations in that case, I hold the Astral Prism and the Dream Guardian protecting us told us all that it decided I was the leader.
@Djoperdjo
This isn't a railroaded movie series based on books with one clear set of events happening in its chronological order, it's a choice based video game with many permutations and intricacies. Lord of the Rings is fantastic and I love re-watching the extended versions of the movies every once in a while, but it's completely incomparable to a choice based game for a myriad of reasons. For 99.99% of LotR, the main group(s) have zero situations where there could be a conflict of interest for one of the characters and because of the way the story goes, they'll always be a unified front because of that. If BG3 were to be written as a railroaded game following the arc of the good guys, there'd be no choice to attack the grove instead of protecting it, no choice which route you're taking to act 2, no options for a potential alliance with Gortash, no choice between Orpheus or The Emperor, probably not even choices in dialogues with your companions... You would just have an interactive movie where you fight your battles as gameplay and then let the video game take the wheel again for the story parts. That could be a fun experience on its own, and the LotR games that have come out and have been like that were indeed fun to play, but that's just totally not what Baldur's Gate is.
And Baldur's Gate also isn't about historical accuracy, it's D&D and it's high fantasy. It'll never be about who has the more dominant, faceless, largest and most organized groups. It's prominent individual heroes and villains squaring off and deciding the fate of the world in dramatic, smaller scale, personal battles. If it would be about who could build the largest and most organized groups, The Dead Three would have utterly wrecked Baldur's Gate using the Absolute's Army, the Fists, the Steel Watch and the Bhaalist cultists to completely wipe the city out and either tadpole the lot of them or just murder everyone. By the time we would arrive, there'd be nothing left but smoke and death.
As for the "Arwen" of this game, I'd probably say Jaheira if you're on the good guy route. An already established character that doesn't have any big personal mission, dilemmas, crisis of faith or character growth still left to do. In that respect, Minsc is another one who would fit that profile. And I'm inclined to put Selunite Shadowheart in that corner as well post-Nightsong as she's past her crisis of faith at that point. For the rest, it's largely more of a coming of age story with most of the companions. They're right in the thick of it trying to find their place in the world, being tugged at from different forces from within and without, and dependent on others they would normally never work together with. Additionally, for the most part they're all just doe-eyed prodigies/chosen ones that are in way over their heads.
I have to say though, if you came into BG3 expecting a LotR-like narrative and companions, then I can definitely see how the story and companions didn't meet your expectations in that regard.
