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 | Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers for Act 3. |  |
| Overview | Combat |
Orin the Red is one of the Chosen of the Absolute, the enigmatic cult taking over the Sword Coast, and serves as one of the main antagonists in Baldur's Gate 3.
| Orin the Red | |
|---|---|
| Level 12 | |
 | |
| Voiced by | Maggie Robertson |
| Information | |
| Title | Deathbringer of Bhaal |
| Race | Changeling |
| Hometown | Temple of Bhaal Baldur's Gate |
| Family | Bhaal (great-grandfather and grandfather) Sarevok Anchev (grandfather and father) Helena Anchev (mother and sister) The Dark Urge (great-uncle/aunt and uncle/aunt) |
A daughter of Bhaal and a devout practitioner in the arts of murder and pain, Orin has painted the streets red in her father's name for many years. Still to be caught thanks to her shapeshifting abilities, she now prepares to make out of Baldur's Gate the biggest bloody offering to her father yet.
| “ | Come to me, Father. Set my flesh to your unholy purpose. |
„ |
| — Orin the Red |
Overview
Background
Orin is the Chosen of Bhaal and one of the three masterminds leading the Cult of the Absolute. As such, she is one of the main antagonists of the game and a key objective in defeating the cult and the enigmatic Absolute.
Hinted at first though notes, she is properly introduced at the end of Act 2 as one of the conspirators of the cult along with Ketheric Thorm and Enver Gortash. Through cunning and murderous devotion, she and her allies have established a solid Bhaalite foothold in the city of Baldur's Gate. Now, empowered by a netherstone and with cult's plans in motion, she intends to paint the city crimson with blood in a mighty offering to Bhaal.
Gameplay
- Orin is a level 12 Changeling boss and one of the main antagonists in the game
- First mentioned in Act 1, she is introduced in Act 2, and properly encountered and fought in Act 3
- Fighting her is required in order to obtain her Netherstone and proceed with the story
- In combat, she uses her deadly powers given by Bhaal himself to deal large amounts of damage quickly while being supported by her cultists
- Her encounter can go different ways depending on the choices made by the party and whether or not the player character is the Dark Urge or not
- A cease of hostilities with her and her Bhaalites can be brokered if agreed to slay Gortash first
- She can trick the party with her disguises and will kidnap someone important to the party
Quests
Description
Appearance
Orin has pale blue-grey skin with swirling, smoke-like plumes of red undulating across it. Her eyes are dull grey, contoured by dark eyeliner, giving her an intimidating look. Her straw-colored, braided hair falls to the backs of her knees in a fastening reminiscent of a flail. Her armour is bright blood-red, rigid and rough like chitin. She adorns her head with an ornate silver tiara with the centerpiece shaped in the form of a person supplicant, a single crimson gem giving her appearance some color.
Personality
Orin is cruel and sadistic, but artistic and creative in her own twisted way.[text 1] Her demeanour is immature and almost childish; Orin easily loses her composure when things do not go her way, enacts small rebellions against the authority figures in her life,[text 2] and enjoys, in a arguably playful way, toying with her victims. She derives sadistic pleasure from taunting her victims with the gory details of her deeds.
When she impersonates another character with her shapeshifting abilities, she will initially be able to convincingly mimic their personality. Her true nature tends to break through the mimicry, however, as she is often unable to contain her bloodlust, resulting in her becoming more openly violent and sadistic, invoking threats and fantasies of extreme violence and grotesque brutality before shifting back into her base appearance.
Her deranged devotion to Bhaal hides her true desire for acceptance and belonging as she is constantly looking for approval from her father Bhaal. Though uncommon, she extends her admiration to those she respects for being brutal devouts of Bhaal such as Sarevok. Her confident and vicious demeanor shatters, however, when confronted with the truth of her origins, and displays true fear when forced by Bhaal to become his tool instead of doing it willingly.
History
Bhaalite upbringing
Raised believing she was fathered by Bhaal himself, Orin was in truth born of an incestuous relationship between Sarevok Anchev and his daughter Helena Anchev,[text 3] intended to be the perfect offering to the Dread Lord. Though he routinely mistreated and abused them, both Helena and Orin worshipped and loved Sarevok, enduring the hardships of growing up as a Bhaalite. Orin received the bloody teachings of Bhaal, becoming in time the youngest Unholy Assassin to follow the steps of god of Murder. Such was her gift in killing that she was anointed Bhaal's Chosen.
When Orin was still a child, Sarevok secretly ordered Helena to kill her as an offering to Bhaal.[1] Desperate to become his Chosen, Helena attacked Orin but she was overcome by Orin who ultimately cut her down. Bhaal deemed the young changeling exceptional, and ordered Sarevok to look after her henceforth.
Orin served Bhaal directly under The Dark Urge as their second in command, though the two were often at odds about the correct way of offering souls to Bhaal. Orin believed that the Urge mutilated their victims without consideration, and what their Father truly wanted was beauty and consideration in the kill.[text 4] The Urge, on the other hand, understood that Bhaal cared only for the quantity of murder performed in his name, nothing more.[text 1]
Yearning for respect and status, but dismissed by Bhaal and Sarevok alike,[2] Orin brooded as she waited for an opportunity to become her father's favored.
Orin's betrayal
The Urge joined forces with Bane's Chosen Enver Gortash, and together, they formulated a plan to steal the Crown of Karsus, an ancient arcane object of immense power, and subjugate an Elder Brain with it in order to create a soulless army to destroy the world with. After recruiting Ketheric Thorm, Myrkul's Chosen, Orin joined the three in the raid to plant the Crown on the brain beneath Moonrise Towers.
It was during this time that Orin saw her opportunity and struck, driving a dagger through the Urge's skull and planting an Illithid tadpole in them. With her former rival left to die and a tadpole devouring their brain, Orin took the Urge's place as Bhaal's Chosen and third member of the conspirators. Orin would prove undisciplined in her role, however, as her bloodlust could not be contained, and rapidly grew to be disliked by the other two who saw her as little more than a necessary nuisance to their plan. At some point between the betrayal and the events of the game, Ketheric and Orin tricked Minthara into a trap where she murdered her allies and captured her. She then used a tadpole to convert Minthara into a True Soul.
If the Urge was not chosen as the player character, their corpse will be found in Orin's chamber during Act 3, tortured to death by their sister.[note 1]
If picked as a player character, they are found by Kressa Bonedaughter instead, saved from death and held captive in the Mind Flayer Colony for some time as she experiments on them,[text 5] until they are shipped away on the Nautiloid during the Prologue.[text 6]
Involvement
Act One
Orin is not present in the first act of the game, but her silhouette can be seen during the Absolute's vision which shows all the three Chosen of the Absolute.
Act Two
Orin first appears in person alongside Ketheric Thorm and Enver Gortash in the mind flayer colony underneath Moonrise Towers. Using her Netherstone, the Lash of Bhaal, she issues the order to the Netherbrain to march the Absolute's armies on Baldur's Gate.
Act Three
The player first encounters Orin in the village of Rivington, right before entering Baldur's Gate. As a changeling, she can appear to the player under the guise of several identities (listed below). She tells the party that she is aware of their goals, even goading the player to be as violent and bloody as they can while they are attempting to obtain the Netherese Stones from her and Gortash.
If the player chooses to ally themselve with Gortash during the coronation, he will reveal that one of your camp followers has been replaced by Orin[3].
After the player enters the Lower City there are various triggers[4] in which Orin reveals to have shapeshifted into one of your camp followers. This starts the Rescue Orin's Victim Quest and the Get Orin's Netherstone Quest. Orin wants the player to kill Gortash and will offer to set the victim free after Gortash is killed.
In order to get Orin's Netherstone the player will need to visit the Murder Tribunal. After either becoming an Unholy Assassin or slaying Sarevok the player will be able to enter Bhaal Temple. There Orin and the kidnapping victim can be found.
Irrespective of previous choices Orin will try to kill her victim. The player can interrupt her by passing dialogue checks, thus saving the victim. Then the fight against Orin will begin.
Spoiler warning! This section reveals interactions with The Dark Urge.
Disguises
Orin's shapeshifting allows her to innocuously follow the player as several different characters in the Wyrm's Crossing area. Among her disguises are:
- Zethino, the fey Master of Love at the Circus of the Last Days.
- Fist Rowan, a member of the Flaming Fist standing near the back of the donation barn.
- Lens, a tiefling journalist.
- Gyldro Angleiron, a blacksmith in the Rivington General.
- A wounded thug of the Stone Lord.
Spoiler warning! This section reveals interactions with The Dark Urge.
Orin masquerading as Rowan, a Flaming Fist
Orin impersonating Gyldro, a smith
Orin posing as a journalist named Lens
Orin pretending to be a dying Stone Lord Thug
Combat
Orin serves as one of the main antagonists of Act 3 of the game alongside Enver Gortash. Her defeat is required before facing the final threat of the game: the Netherbrain.
Loot
Crimson Mischief
Mutilated Carapace
Netherstone-Pommelled Bloodthirst – separates on pick-up into:
Achievements
First Blood
Kill Orin while her cultists are performing their ritual chant.
Gallery
Orin's in-game model.
Character portrait by Edward Vanderghote.
Orin standing over a captive Lae'zel companion.
"Come to me, Father. Set my flesh to your unholy purpose."
Related literature
Notes
- ↑ This corpse uses the Dragonborn#White_Dragonborn form for the Dark Urge, as seen in promotional footage for the Origin and through the in-game default choice.
- It's possible to identify when an NPC is actually Orin, they'll be level 12, though not have the large amount of hit points that come with that level, and, when examined, one can see the NPC has Orin's passive features such as Immutable Form, etc.
- Orin can only be at one place at a time: if a disguised Orin stays in the visual range of a party member she can't take the appearance of other NPCs elsewhere and thus is effectively pinned in place. This way it's possible to talk to the other genuine NPCs without triggering Orin's apparitions.
- When a disguised Orin has been identified the player can attack the NPC. This will skip the NPC's dialogue and go straight to Orin's reveal who will vanish without giving her normal lines about Gortash. Even if the attack would have killed the NPC, Orin herself doesn't die.
- Orin's kidnapping and impersonation event during the quest Rescue Orin's Victim is not fully random; it appears to follow a priority system among the companions left in camp (that is, companions not in your active party), prioritizing companions that have the lowest approval with the player, from a list of 3 possible kidnapping victims: Lae'zel, Gale, and Halsin (or Minthara). She will not kidnap a romanced companion. If none of these companions are available, she instead kidnaps Yenna.
- At launch, the player could temporarily obtain Blade of the First Blood (a Shortsword version of
Bloodthirst wielded by Orin) by killing Orin and looting her before the end of the battle, but this appears to have been fixed. [Needs Verification]
References
- ↑ "What better offering to make to our Lord?" - Sarevok Anchev on Helena's attempted murder
- ↑ "Cleanse the temple of Orin's girlish shrines and bring your primal slaughter back to Bhaal." - Sarevok Anchev
- ↑ Although Gortash reveals this, the player is unable to act on this information as the actual replacement does not happen until Orin reveals it herself in the Lower City
- ↑ Known triggers: Entering the canalization, long resting
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Concerning Orin the Red – The Dark Urge
- ↑ Experiment on Cruor – Orin the Red
- ↑ A page from Sarevok's book – Sarevok Anchev
- ↑ Blood-Envy for the Unworthy – Orin the Red
- ↑ Clasped Book (Moonrise Towers) – Balthazar
- ↑ Journal of Magthew Budj – Maghtew Budj
External links
Orin on the Forgotten Realms Wiki