Ori is the titular main protagonist of the Ori video game series. They're a small white spirit who was tasked with saving the forest of Nibel, and subsequently, Niwen as well.
Physical Appearance[]
Ori resembles a small white humanoid, apparently just a few feet tall. Their eyes are dark blue and their physical form appears bestial, but not resembling any creature in particular, sharing certain characteristics with various species. They mostly stand on two legs, have a long, rounded tail that resembles that of creatures like cats and lemurs, have a pair of large, floppy ears that stick up or droop depending on Ori's mood, and a pair of horn-like antennae on top of their head. A faint glow also emanates from them.
Personality[]
Due to being largely silent, Ori doesn't display a lot of clear personality traits, but they still show some consistent ones throughout the cinematic scenes of both games. For example, they are somewhat childlike in that they have a inherently curious attitude, a simple and naive view of the world, a very innocent, well-meaning vibe, and particularly at the beginning of the first game, are quite dependent on Naru, their caregiver and parental figure. However, when push comes to shove, Ori also shows great bravery and determination in the face of overwhelming odds, traversing both Nibel and Niwen to save each of them from Decay despite having to face various creatures that are dangerous, very aggressive and much larger than them, as well as navigate through some very dangerous and hazardous environments.
Ori has also consistently shown a strong sense of compassion and great capacity for forgiveness. Such examples include helping Gumo when he was stuck under rocks despite stealing the Water Vein that they and Sein needed to access the Ginso Tree and making them chase him through a series of deadly environments and traps; not showing any anger towards Kuro despite causing Nibel's Decay and indirectly causing Naru to starve to death, especially upon learning her tragic backstory; feeling bad for Ku when she was initially unable to fly due to being born with an underdeveloped wing, comforting her and seeking a means to help her with this problem; showing great sadness both when Ku was rendered unconscious from being attacked by Shriek and Kwolok died from his injuries after being possessed and corrupted by Foul Presence, which forced them to fight him in self-defence; and finally, even being willing to befriend, or at least reason with Shriek despite everything she had done.
By the end of Will of the Wisps, Ori was even willing to give up their existence as a spirit guardian to become Niwen's new Spirit Tree due to recognizing this was the only way to save both the forest itself from the Decay and Ku, despite this meaning no longer being able to spend time with his friends and family the way they could before, showcasing just how selfless they really are.
History[]
Ori and the Blind Forest[]
In the first game, a creature named Naru finds Ori, taking them as her foster child after a storm's winds blew them away from a powerful tree called the Spirit Tree. They have fun together, but eventually, she dies due to starvation after something disturbs the forest of Nibel. Now on their own, Ori dies, but is resurrected by the tree's power. They later meets a light spirit called Sein, and she tasks them with finding the three elements of supporting the balance in the dying forest: Waters, Winds, and Warmth.
Ori and their new spirit companion later find two beings in their quest. The first, Gumo, is the last survivor of the spider-like Gumon clan, which was destroyed by the forest's cataclysm, and whose home supports the Wind element. The other, Kuro, is a giant, shadowy owl who quickly becomes one of Ori's enemies.
Gumo at first takes the key to the Waters element, but he relinquishes his grip on it after Ori saves him from a rockslide. Upon rekindling the Winds element, Ori learns why Kuro had become their foe: after they fell from their spot within the spirit tree, the Spirit Tree unleashed a light flash to look for his whereabouts. Kuro lost her children to the light flash while she was out looking for food. When Kuro attacked the tree in retaliation, Sein, who turned out to be the Spirit Tree's source of power, was kidnapped in the onslaught. Since it had none of her power remaining to convert into its own, the tree could not sustain the three elements, and Nibel started dying. Gumo overhears Ori's intentions to restore the forest and revives Naru, taking her to where Ori is now.
Ori and Sein eventually restore Warmth to the volcano, Mount Horu, at which point Kuro attacks. Naru arrives to protect Ori from Kuro, who softens as she remembers the pain of losing her children. Kuro then takes Sein back to the Spirit Tree, dying as it emits a flash of light. The forest begins to flourish once more as Ori watches more of his kind being born in the field at the foot of the Spirit Tree. Gumo and Naru watch together from afar, before the latter goes home, where Kuro's last egg now rests, just in time to see it hatch.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps[]
In the sequel, which takes place right after the end of the first game, Ori is living happily with their surrogate family consisting of Naru, Gumo and the newly hatched Ku. However, as Ku begins to grow, she has problems flying no matter how many times she tries due to being born with an underdeveloped wing and grows disheartened. Though Ori feels bad for and tries to comfort her, they soon remembers that they still have a feather from Kuro and go to get it. With some help from Gumo, who attaches it to Ku's wing, Ku is finally able to have a successful flight with Ori riding on top of her. However, while the two are initially having a nice ride together, they soon get caught in a storm which causes them to lose Kuro's feather, subsequently causing Ku to fall out of the sky with her and Ori falling in completely different parts of a Niwen, a similar but different neighboring region to Nibel that they were flying over.
Ori lands in Inkwater Marsh, and thanks to the local creatures there named the Moki, learns that they need to go to see a giant toad named Kwolok who resides over in Kwolok's Hollow and looks after both them and the marshes to the east to get a better idea of where to find Ku. After making their way over there, Ori meets Kwolok, who confirms that Ku is further to the east in an area called the Silent Woods, but also explains to Ori that getting there isn't possible until the waters are cleansed, which can be done by heading to the Wellspring to the west to get the wheels there back in motion again. To help Ori with this task, Kwolok entrusts them with a wisp known as the Voice of the Forest to help guide them. Ori is successfully able to get the wheels at the Wellspring in motion again and cleanse the waters, after which they subsequently head to Silent Woods where they finally reunite with Ku. The two then try to navigate the area together and find Kuro's feather so they can go home, but while searching, they encounter and are subsequently attacked by a giant and vicious owl named Shriek who is deformed from the phenomena named the Decay that all of Niwen is suffering from. As a result, Ori falls into a pit, and when Ku tries to stand up to Shriek, she attacks her too and leaves her in bad enough condition that she falls into a coma.
Ori subsequently finds Ku in this state, brings her back to Kwolok's Hollow where they wrap her in a leaf and mourn her state along with the Moki, with Ori lying down next to her. Kwolok subsequently appears and explains that the Voice of the Forest, who had just caused some flowers to sprout around them, is too weak to completely heal her. He then goes on to explain that the Decay all of Niwen is suffering from is the result of their Spirit Hollow, which served the same role that the Spirit Tree serves for Nibel, passing away. The light that it carried subsequently broke into five different wisps that have scattered throughout the region, and only by reuniting them into one can the willow's former light be restored. Therefore, Kwolok tasks Ori with tracking down the other four; the wisp that represents the Memory of the Forest to the north in Baur's Reach, the wisp that represents the Eyes of the Forest to the south in Mouldwood Depths, the wisp that represents the Strength of the Forest to the west in Luma Pools, and the wisp that represents the Heart of the Forest to the east in the Windtorn Ruins, so Ori can unite them with the wisp representing the Voice of the Forest that already accompanies them, with Kwolok vowing to help out however he can.
Eventually, Ori is able to track down and recover the Memory, Strength and Eyes of the Forest, but tragically, during the search for the wisp in Luma Pools, Kwolok is corrupted by Foul Presence, the same abomination that caused the water mill at the Wellspring to stop working and the water to become corrupt, and is forced to attack Ori. While Ori manages to fend him off and allow Kwolok to regain control long enough to fight and destroy Foul Presence for good, he still sustained fatal injuries and passes on, though not before urging Ori to reunite the wisps and look after the Moki and Niwen itself in his stead, while Ori and the Moki sadly mourn him. Ori and the Voice subsequently head through Windswept Wastes and make it to Windtorn Ruins, where they discover a set of murals detailing how among other things, Spirit Trees and light have always needed each other to protect their respective forests, how the spirits of Niwen suffered and died out when they lost the light, and a prophecy of a spirit restoring Niwen to life again.
After making it to the bottom of the ruins, Ori finds the wisp representing the Heart and reunites all the gathered wisps with the Voice, which together form Seir, the Spirit Willow's former light. After subsequently escaping from a giant sandworm, the two then head for the Spirit Willow by heading back through the Silent Woods, but are attacked by Shriek along the way. However, thanks to their renewed strength, Seir manages to fend her off. The two subsequently journey through Willow's End to reach the Spirit Willow, and upon arriving, Seir reunites with the Spirit Willow. However, while the Spirit Willow is revived enough to communicate with Ori, it confesses that its time has "passed", namely that it is too weak and will pass on 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 at leaving his previous existence behind.
However, right after this explanation. Shriek appears again and attacks Seir, separating them from Ori. Ori subsequently engages Shriek in a climactic battle and manages to defeat her. While Shriek retreats back to Silent Woods and uses the last of her strength to situate herself under the wings of her parents' corpses, Ori is left badly wounded and exhausted after the fight as well. Limping their way weakly to Seir, Ori begins to have flashbacks to all of their happy experiences with their loved ones (Naru, Gumo and Ku) along with their similarly more positive interactions with the residents of Niwen before merging with Ku, having accepted that becoming the new Spirit Tree for Niwen was the only way to save both the forest itself and Ku.
Upon merging with Seir, the Decay is repelled, the forest's vitality is restored, and Ku is not only revived, but her wing is restored as well, much to the joy of the Moki along with Naru and Gumo, who had just arrived via raft from Nibel in order to search for her and Ori. They all subsequently go to where Ori merged with Seir and discover Ori is gone, much to their collective sorrow. However, they soon notice that they are already starting to sprout as a new Spirit Tree, which lifts their spirits. They resume their life as a family together, with Naru, Gumo and Ku spending much of their time with Ori in their new Spirit Tree form along with the Moki, with Naru and Gumo even nurturing them all the while, allowing them to grow. After spending enough time growing that the Spirit Tree becomes a full giant one just like the one they originated from in Nibel, a leaf is seen falling from their branches to become a spirit guardian just like Ori used to be.
Abilities[]
Ori starts off as a rather delicate creature who can only take a limited amount of punishment and attacks from hostile creatures before expiring. Even most of the available attacks in the first game are relegated to Sein using their Spirit Flame and Charge Flame techniques to defend them from harm. However, over the course of the game, Ori learns various skills and abilities that allow them to become extremely agile and efficient at navigating tough environments, such as being able to effortlessly climb up walls, body slam through weakened structures, jump up to three times in midair, bounce off of enemies and their projectiles using the Bash technique, and use the Charge Jump to launch themselves great vertical and horizontal distances.
In the sequel, Ori not only relearns many of these techniques, but gains significant combat prowess as well, gaining various weapons like a spirit sword, a spirit hammer, a bow and arrow and flame projectiles to fend off various enemies, including very enormous and threatening ones that they had no chance of standing up to in the first game. They also gain the ability to heal themselves by using an Energy Cell to restore some Life Cells, as well as to launch themself great distances in midair towards the end. Additionally, thanks to the use of Spirit Shards, Ori can also increase their attack, defense and exploring prowess, such as by giving themself extra Life and Energy Cells, increasing their resistance to enemy attacks and most environmental hazards, making Life and Energy Cells appear more frequently, making certain attacks more powerful, and being able to utilize some of their previous abilities like sticking to and climbing walls and triple jumping. Therefore, as the game progresses, Ori becomes a far more durable and formidable character in combat than they ever were in the first game.
Trivia[]
- Beta versions reveal that Ori was going to be called Sein. This is still the name that his data files use. Sein herself was going to be called Ori, as in her data files.