"Where Minsc goes, evil stands aside!"
Yes, he says that. Minsc is my one of my favourite characters from the Baldur's Gate series (the other will make an appearance here, later). He's pretty much comic relief, but it's pretty good comic relief.
For those of you familiar with Forgotten Realms lore, Minsc is a Rashemi ranger on his dujemma and is accompanying the wizard Dynaheir (Hathran witch in Rashamen) and the two go as a unit, so if you ditch one, the other goes, too. Luckily Dynaheir is pretty useful, and so is Minsc as he's probably the best fighter character in the game.
Minsc's dialogue is really what makes his character. He's totally upbeat, loudly proclaims against evil, and all that good stuff.
He does have one failing as far as mechanics though, that being that he can only carry two quick items instead of three, as one slot is taken up with his pet hamster, Boo, the miniature giant space hamster. (No, really, they're a
thing)
I'm guessing he's pretty darn popular as he's the only non-default character to get ported to the start of BG2.
"Ah, we are all heroes...you and Boo and I...hamsters and rangers everywhere! Rejoice!"