I think part of the issue of a lack of "fully manly" companions (Im fine with all of them) is that Larian wants each companion to have a deeply personal quest for the player character to solve that dogs them throughout the game. Having such baggage does kind of go against the trustworthy, steadfast, problem solving traits I personally see in manliness. By comparison, Halison, who has quite a bit less problems than gale and wyll, also to me seems much more manly than either. Gale comes off as a confidence man who is more troubled than he would let on. Wyll seems to have some imposter syndrome and questions if his deeds are a result of his own efforts. Everyone has baggage they deal with, guys included, and for the sake of having a quest arc for each companion Larian has expanded that more in all of them.
