Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-24749544-20140905034211/@comment-6697950-20140905105427

I'm pretty sure that the author just didn't expect him to be popular. He was most likely created just as a character that Kirito abandoned early in -game and would then feel guilt for during those years. Argo is another example. She was only mentioned in one or two places in the original story, but when she made an appearance in Progressive, she became more popular than the author anticipated. I think that there was an Aniplex interview about that.