Why Baldur's Gate 3 Origin Character Levels Make No Sense

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Over the course of the party's adventures in the characters go from fresh-faced at level one to powerful adventurers at level 12. However, given the backstories of some of the companion and Origin characters that doesn't make a lot of sense. From wizards powerful enough to catch Mystra's eye to 200-year-old vampires, some of the Origin characters should be a much higher level when first met.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the story of Baldur's Gate 3.]

The companion and Origin characters of are there to provide support and context for the world as the threat of the Absolute is faced. Starting at level one, they will become more powerful as the party completes quests, explores new areas, and gains more experience points. But what level should the Origin characters of actually be?

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For fairly obvious gameplay reasons, all the Origin characters start at level one so that their skills can be customized for each playthrough. This is even explained away with an in-game reason for this, with characters mentioning that before their tadpole, they were more powerful. However, in terms of lore, they should all be much higher levels given their lives before the events of the game, and some should be higher levels than they reach by the end of.

While the Origin characters start off at level one alongside the player character, they no doubt were much higher levels before. Reddit user baelrog began a discussion of what levels the characters should be canonically, with many others joining in with their opinions. The thread assesses each character in terms of their backstory and information gathered through speaking with them, and