Ori is the titular main protagonist of Moon Studios' same name franchise. They are a Spirit, a species of unique, human-like animals that are descended from Spirit Trees, spirits whom have combined with Light.
They are ultimately tasked with saving Nibel in Blind Forest, and Niwen in Will of the Wisps.
They are voiced by Andrew Lackey.
What Makes Them Pure Good?[]
In General[]
- Despite being a little thin in terms of personality, mostly as a result of being largely mute, Ori is still far from a flat character as evidenced by how much characterization they demonstrate in cutscenes throughout both games, and is consistently shown to be kind, altruistic and sympathetic, including to their enemies.
- Despite developing the ability to fight back against enemies by the time of Will of the Wisp and at least occasionally using lethal force, they only ever do so in self-defence due to the highly aggressive nature of pretty much all of the enemies they come across, who attack and try to kill them on sight, which makes it necessary for them to fight back both to survive and complete the important tasks they're entrusted with.
Ori and the Blind Forest[]
- During the time they lived peacefully with Naru, when the forest started decaying, the tried desperately to gather a bunch of fruit to share with her after she had previously allowed them to eat the last piece of it despite starving, and successfully brought a bunch back from some of the remaining trees that were okay. Despite Naru starving by then, much to Ori's heartbreak, it was still a valiant effort under the circumstances and showcased their kind nature.
- After hearing what the cause of Nibel's decay is from Sein and the Spirit Tree, they join Sein willing to rekindle the three elements of Nibel in order to save it.
- Despite Gumo initially stealing the Water Vein, which they and Sein needed to enter the Ginso Tree and rekindle the Waters in the Ginso Tree, then subsequently leading them on a dangerous chase where they had to navigate various deadly obstacles, when given the chance, Ori helps Gumo when a rock falls down on and pins him down by pushing the rock off of him. In return for this act of kindness, Gumo willingly relinquishes the Water Vein, then later uses his lost clan's treasure to bring Naru back to life.
- Over the course of the game, they and Sein rekindle Nibel's Waters, Winds and Warmth, which each had positive effects for the forest of Nibel:
- By liberating the Ginso Tree of its rot and restoring the Waters, all of the forest's water, which had previously turned toxic and couldn't even be touched, became clean and safe again, not only allowing Ori to swim through it, but making it habitable to the forest's aquatic life.
- By navigating the Forlorn Ruins, making it to the center and rekindling the Winds, which took a great effort in and of itself due to having to navigate the dangerous and twisty Misty Woods to get the Gumon Seal and even enter the ruins, as well as dealing with wacky gravity within them, they allowed all of the forest's air channels to start circulating again, not only allowing them to reach areas they previously couldn't, but allowing some of the parts of the forest that had frozen as a result of the lack of warm air circulation to gradually unthaw.
- By navigating the extremely dangerous interior of Mount Horu to stem the flow of lava in various points of the volcano and restore the forest's Warmth at its center, they manage to prevent a full-scale eruption that almost certainly would have devastated the forest (a forest fire still broke out, but the damage was still far less severe than if would have been if they hadn't stopped this).
- Despite Kuro being responsible for Nibel's state of Decay, which also makes her indirectly responsible for Naru's death, her relentless stalking and attempts to kill them, Ori never showed any hatred or resentment towards her, and if anything, seemed to sympathize with her after learning that her actions were motivated by the rage of her children being killed by the Spirit Tree when it used its light to try and find Ori when they were lost.
- Despite being attacked by Kuro, they nearly manage to escape despite the forest fire occurring around them and reunite Sein with the Spirit Tree before Kuro catches up to and nearly kills them. Thankfully, when a revived Naru arrives and protects Ori, Kuro softens, comes to her senses and takes Sein to the Spirit Tree herself to reunite them even though this means sacrificing her life. This causes the forest fire to dissipate, allows the forest to be fully restored, and over time, for more forest spirits to be born again in abundance, while Ori watches.
- While Kuro may have technically finished the task, they and Sein still did most of the work and would have finished it themselves had they not been attacked by and stopped by Kuro in the first place.
- They, along with Naru and Gumo, took in Kuro's last egg in respect for her sacrifice, eventually resulting in Ku being born.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps[]
- As soon as Ku is born, Ori lovingly embraces her and develops a close, sibling-like bond with her.
- When Ku becomes depressed as a result of being born with an underdeveloped right wing and being unable to fly when they come of age despite multiple attempts, Ori visibly sympathizes with her and spends the night at her side to comfort her. They then subsequently remember they still have a leftover feather of Kuro's from the first game, and after showing it to Gumo, who helps attach it to Ku's wing, with Ori accompanying her, she finally has a successful flight, much to their, Gumo and Naru's collective joy and excitement.
- After they and Ku get caught in a storm, and are subsequently separated and stranded in the neighboring land of Niwen, they bravely search for Ku with the help of some friendly creatures called the Moki. After being directed to a wise old toad named Kwolok, who informs them of the dire situation Niwen is, namely that they're suffering from a Decay phenomenon similar to what Nibel suffered, despite them only ending up there in the first place by accident and their only initial goal being to find Ku, Ori agrees to help without reluctance or hesitation.
- At Kwolok's behest, they head west to the Wellspring so they can set the wheels of the water mill located there back in motion and cleanse the waters, which they succeed at, giving the forest clean water again and allowing them to reach the Silent Woods where Ku is supposed to be.
- After reuniting with Ku, they attempt to navigate and safely leave the area with her, only to be attacked by Shriek in the process.
- When Ku is badly hurt and put in a coma as a result of the attack, Ori brings her back to Kwolok's Hollow, wraps her in a leaf and mourns her along with the Moki. After subsequently being told by Kwolok that the wisp accompanying them so far, the Voice of the Forest, doesn't have the ability to fully heal Ku and must be reunited with the other four wisps that it used to be merged with before being split apart after the Spirit Willow's passing, the Memory, Eyes, Strength and Heart of the Forest, to become the willow's former light, Ori accepts the task of locating the other wisps, both to save Ku and all of Niwen.
- They assisted the Moki and other members of the island with various tasks, making Niwen a better place for living despite its state. Examples include helping retrieve various lost items for various Moki and a wandering bird named Tokk, using ore they’ve collected to help Grom rebuild the Wellspring Glades and improve the quality of life for the Moki living there, and helping Tuley restore plant life to the Glades by finding different types of seeds and bringing them back to him.
- After retrieving the Memory of the Forest in Baur's Reach, they're thanked by Baur himself, who informs them that by retrieving the wisp, spring will eventually return to the area, which had been plagued by an extended winter since the Decay.
- While searching for the Strength of the Forest in Luma Pools, they defeated the Foul Presence that was poisoning and possessing Kwolok, which was also the same abomination that caused the water mill at the Wellspring to stop working and the water to become corrupt, allowing Kwolok to fight back and kill it, although he got fatally injured in the process.
- They were greatly saddened by Kwolok's death and comforted him in his final moments.
- During the search for the Eyes of the Forest in the Mouldwood Depths, they freed and retrieved the wisp by defeating Mora, the mother of all the other spiders that call the depths home, and in doing so, lifts the darkness of the depths, which frees Mora and all of the other spiders of their corruption. Mora subsequently thanks Ori for returning her and her children to their senses and resolves to allow her children to travel outside of the depths again rather than stay cooped up there due to acknowledging how much even creatures like them need the light, making them indirectly responsible for this.
- After collecting all of the other wisps, Ori braves the Windswept Wastes, makes it to the bottom of the Windtorn Ruins and retrieves the Heart of the Forest, then escapes from a giant sandworm. Doing so allows all of the gathered wisps to reunite to form Seir, the Spirit Willow's former light.
- When Shriek attack them and Seir when they're on their way to the Spirit Willow and Seir attacks in retaliation, Ori interjects by preventing them from attacking further and trying to befriend, or at least reason with Shriek due to sympathizing with her after hearing about her tragic backstory from Bauer. While Shriek is too far gone to accept any gestures of goodwill and rejects this, it's still a notable display of altruism considering how much Shriek had been terrorizing the other residents of Niwen and her previous vicious attack on them and Ku, which put the latter in a coma.
- Upon making it to the Spirit Willow, they reunite Seir with it to save Niwen. However, the Spirit Willow then tells Ori that that its time has "passed", namely that it is too weak and will pass on altogether soon, meaning Ori needs to merge with Seir and become Niwen's Spirit Tree to save it, though this will come with the obvious cost of leaving his previous existence behind. Despite this, Ori appears to be willing to do this before Shriek attacks again and snatches Sein away.
- They engage Shriek in a climactic battle out of necessity since all of Niwen is at stake and manage to defeat her to free Seir, albeit being badly wounded in the progress.
- Despite being saddened to leave their previous life behind, as evidenced by having previous flashbacks to all of their happy memories with their adopted family, consisting of Naru, Gumo and Ku, along with all of the other similarly positive interactions they had with many of the residents of Niwen while weakly limping over to Sein after the battle with Shriek, they willingly merged with Seir to become the region's new Spirit Tree.
- In their new form, they repel the Decay, allow the land to be revitalized and revive Ku, with her underdeveloped wing even being fully restored as a positive side effect. Over the following years, as Ori grows into a full, giant tree just like the one they originated from in Nibel, they start giving birth to new spirits, allowing the forest to be repopulated, all while living happily with Naru, Gumo and Ku due to still being able to communicate with them in that form, alleviating their initial sadness.
Trivia[]
- Ori is the only main character in the franchise not to have a definitive gender and is mostly left up to interpretation, as the Spirit Tree is mostly presumed to be a male and the rest are either minor or have a confirmed gender.
- Beta versions reveal that Ori was going to be called Sein. This is still the name that his data files use to this day, and Sein herself was going to be called Ori.
External Links[]
- Ori on the Heroes Wiki
- Ori on the Ori and the Blind Forest Wiki