Orin the Red

Character
Name:	Orin the Red
Occupation:	Chosen of Bhaal, cultist
Relationships:	The Dark Urge (sibling), Sarevok (father/grandfather)
Fandom:	Baldur's Gate III
Other:
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Orin the Red is an NPC enemy from the game Baldur's Gate III. She is a doppelganger, the chosen of Bhaal, god of murder, and leader of the Bhaalist cult.

Orin is voiced by Maggie Robertson who also played Lady Dimitrescu, prompting some memes and crossovers.

Canon

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Orin is one of the three main villains of Baldur's Gate III, alongside Enver Gortash and Ketheric Thorm as the chosen of the Dead Three. Orin is a central figure in Act 3, where she transforms into various citizens of Baldur's Gate in order to spy on and jumpscare the party.

At some point in Act 3, Orin will kidnap one of the companion party members - Lae'zel, Gale, Halsin, or Yenna, an orphan, if none are available. The companion is replaced by Orin as a doppelganger, revealed during scenes where she acts out the companion either turning evil to taunt the player to kill them or having escaped her custody detailing torture, only to transform into Orin and give the party the quest to kill Gortash or have the companion die.

Orin is particularly central to The Dark Urge, whose amnesia is the result of her plotting to kill them and take their place as the head of the cult of Bhaal. When playing as The Dark Urge, Orin will challenge the player to a one on one duel in order to become the chosen of Bhaal.

While Orin is described as a Bhaalspawn like the Dark Urge, and generally are considered to be siblings both in canon and fanon, Orin actually descends from Bhaal through her grandfather, Sarevok - who is also her father, having slept with his daughter, Orin's mother, a fact that when revealed can cause Orin to have a breakdown and be taken over by Bhaal as his mindless slayer. As such, Orin is technically the Dark Urge's niece/grandniece.

Fandom

Orin is often used in fic as a villain and source of whump, through her canonical role kidnapping party members and impersonating them.

Relationships between Orin & the Dark Urge are also common, ranging from rivals, familial (Orin & Durge being the most popular relationship tag on AO3), and romantic (Orin/The Dark Urge) her most popular romantic relationship.

Orin/Minthara is Orin's other popular ship, based around Orin manipulating Minthara pre-canon in ways that are often read as romantic, albeit in noncon relationship.

Orin/Tav, Orin/OC, and Orin/Reader are also relatively common, sometimes but not always overlapping with Orin/The Dark Urge, as well as shipping between the three Chosen.

Orin & Incest

Discussions of Orin and the Dark Urge's relationship ties into discussions and wank around incest. Because they are related through a god, some fans do not consider themselves to be related or siblings, similar to the argument around incest in Greek mythology; other fans view the ship as sibling incest.

Additionally, there are arguments around whether Orin/The Dark Urge is OOC - whether Orin would be involved in an incestuous relationship - which is often refuted by Orin herself being a product of incest. This detail is somewhat obscure and difficult to find within the game itself, however, and is the source of its own discourse (Sarevok being a returning character from Baldur's Gate I and II).

External Links

• Orin the Red on AO3
• orin the red on Tumblr