Highlights
- The popularity of Baldur's Gate 3 can be attributed to its compelling cast of heroes and villains, with nuanced character arcs that create deep bonds with players.
- The shapeshifter villain, Orin, adds an intense level of personal stakes and drama to the game, toying with players and kidnapping a party member.
- Orin's ability to impersonate others and gather information raises tension and uncertainty, creating a sense of urgency and danger for players. Her twisted personality and joy in causing suffering make her a memorable and formidable villain.
Baldur's Gate 3 has exploded in popularity since its launch, quickly becoming one of the most popular RPGs of its kind. Much of the overwhelming praise Baldur's Gate 3 received comes down to its compelling cast of heroes and villains seeking to further their own goals.
Most of them follow nuanced arcs that have them examine parts of their life and eventually learn to open up more, forming a deep bond with those traveling with them. By the time players reach the third act in Baldur's Gate 3, many emotional arcs are about to reach their climax as the party races against time with the Absolute closing in on the titular city. As if that was not bad enough, the bloodthirsty shapeshifter Orin the Red pulls a trick that exponentially adds to the drama.
Orin Kidnapping a Party Member Adds Even More Personal Stake to Baldur's Gate 3's Third Act
Orin is brilliantly played by Maggie Robertson of Resident Evil Village fame and embodies chaotic evil in Baldur's Gate 3. She quickly makes an impression during her introduction and shows the lengths she's willing to go to in the third act. Orin appears quickly, not necessarily as a roadblock, but to toy with the player and gather information on them.
Most of this is personal as she uses her shapeshifting abilities to impersonate several people and figure out facts such as who the protagonist is in love with and their motivations. This effectively sets up a conflict where Orin could be any random person, naturally raising the tension as she could be anywhere. Her toying comes to a head when Orin approaches the party as one of the members, claiming to have been captured by her and tortured for weeks. The curtain is lifted as she reveals that the specific party member is a prisoner and will kill them if the player does not comply with her demands.
An instance many will likely encounter is her and the newly appointed Archduke Enver Gortash had a falling out. The deal she strikes with players in this variant of the story is that the player kills him first before attempting to attack her, and if they succeed, the kidnapped party member will not be killed. This ties nicely into her motivation to spread as much death and violence as she can.
By this point in the game, players have largely had the same companions for the entire game, so knowing one of them is captured not only messes up some potentially great party compositions, it adds more personal stakes to this point in the game. This individual is likely someone to have a close connection with the protagonist, and their death would be a sudden emotional twist as they would be down a confidant before the final battles. Not only that, but their death would lead to a sudden and unsatisfying end for an emotional arc that had been building for dozens of hours.
Even if this possibility was highlighted when Orin was revealed before Baldur's Gate 3's launch, its execution in-game is still as shocking as it is effective since the moment strikes abruptly. It also shows her to be a twisted villain that actively takes joy in causing suffering and having players down a powerful ally would make them feel that emotion.
Orin is a fantastically written villain who many will love to hate. She would have been an effective foe if she was only a crazed follower of Bhaal who takes joy in causing pain, but her status as a shapeshifter with a talent for deception elevates her to another level. Far greater threats exist in Dungeons & Dragons and even Baldur's Gate 3, but Orin does a wonderful job of leaving an impression as someone not to take lightly. Few villains can put a substantial hole in a party's strength, and even fewer do so with a smile and laughs.
Baldur's Gate 3 is out now on PC and will come out September 6 on PS5. A version for Xbox Series X/S is currently in development.
