#3. Orion

Lore

The Mysterious Stranger

"Sir Roland swears Orion is the Gold Knight he never slew. Bodvar insists he is Thor in disguise. Gnash believes he is a magic rock monster. Lucien is moved to incoherent rage at the sight of him. I don't care who he is, I just want to take him apart and see how he works."

–Scarlet


"Here, I am called Orion."

–Orion

As the story goes...

Watching from the doors of Valhalla, Bodvar, Cassidy and the other legends saw a blazing trail of smoke cut across the Asgardian sky. Behind the fiery comet, a Valkyrie raced in pursuit, as though trying to stop the fireball as it plunged into the fields of Folkvangr in a gout of dirt and flame. The legends then watched as Valkyries and emissaries of Odin gathered around the smoking crater.


Weeks later, the sons of Ivaldi, the same dwarven smiths who had forged Odin's spear, quietly appeared in Asgard, they bore a suit of dazzling golden armor and presented it to the gods themselves. Soon after, the mighty Orion joined the feast halls of Valhalla.

Tentative and aloof at first, Orion soon warmed to the great hall and is now among it's greatest warriors and most popular champions. Orion does not speak of his past, and other legends can only speculate. But Valkyries stop by his chambers to ask if he wants to, "you know, hang out or whatever, no big deal." He is the only hero seen to leave Asgard from time to time.

Connections

• Artemis' rival; the enigma to the answer that is Artemis; Artemis came into being when his name was spoken; destroying him is her main goal; as he grows in popularity in Valhalla, she wonders if Asgard might be too "infected" to save
• Somehow, Mirage knows him, but by some other name (or names)
• Considered a "metaphysical rulebreaker," a "rogue soul" and a "cosmological cold-case" by Nix
• A common frustration for both Artemis and Nix
• The Sons of Ivaldi (including Ulgrim) forged his armor; Ulgrim always keeps a close eye on him, out of either pride or concern
• Brynn and Val makes fun of his "mysterious cool-guy act"
• One of few legends deemed worthy of direct address with Lord Vraxx

Context

Orion is based on the "futuristic warrior" archetype. Part of that is the fact that his armor (and perhaps his weapons) were created by Asgardian dwarves. Also, he arrived as a comet from space! The developers at Blue Mammoth Games seem to have gone out of their way to make Orion a complete mystery. There are a few interesting clues in other lore pages, however (I'm particularly intrigued by Mirage's surprising familiarity with Orion, as well as Artemis' belief that Asgard might be "too infected."). But on this page, I will focus on what we can know for certain, and that starts with Orion's namesake.

Of course, Orion is one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky, and it is named after the Orion from Greek mythology. There seems to be many variant stories about Orion, especially regarding his relationship with Artemis. Here is a summary of the different versions:

• Artemis and Orion respect each other as great hunters, but Orion boasts that he will kill every creature on earth. The earth, Gaia, of course doesn't like this and summons a giant scorpion to kill him. Artemis asks Zeus to put Orion in the sky, thus the Orion constellation. 
• Artemis falls in love with Orion, but her brother, Apollo, disapproves. While Orion is swimming in the ocean, Apollo challenged Artemis on her archery skill. Apollo tells Artemis to aim for a small dark speck on the ocean's surface (Orion's head above water, far from shore), and of course Artemis hits the target. She is overcome with grief when Orion's body is washed ashore. 
• Orion assaults Artemis, and she either kills him herself, or sends a giant scorpion.

It is interesting that there are drastic differences in these stories, especially in Artemis and Orion's relationship. Whether these stories give us any clues is debatable. Recall that Artemis came into being when Orion's name was spoken. However, Mirage didn't know him as Orion, and mysterious stranger himself said, "Here, I am called Orion." This just raises more questions. If we assume he wasn't Orion before, who was he? Was he a threat to the universe before he was "called" Orion? If not, how did be become "Orion"? How might he be "infecting" Asgard as he gains popularity? As much as I'd love to hear more from Blue Mammoth Games about these and other mysteries in the lore, I'm not holding my breath because I suspect these myriad mysteries are part of Orion's character. Along with "futuristic warrior," he might also have the "quiet, mysterious stranger" archetype.

There are, of course, a few fan theories out there about Orion's true identity. Some posit that he is Lance Starchampion, though I am quite doubtful of this. The most solid fan theory I've come across, however, is Diffensive's theory that Orion is a male Valkyrie from an alternative universe. He makes some very convincing points, and I'm inclined to believe his theory until I see evidence to suggest otherwise.

Why lance and spear? The spear could be to honor the host of Orion's new home, Odin, who was know to have used a spear. The choice of rocket lance is likely due to Orion's connections with space, since this weapon tends to feature more advanced technology.

As a side note, Orion's name in the alpha version of Brawlhalla was Völst. Not entirely sure if there's any meaning behind that name. Here are some meanings of the word "volst" I found from Google Translate:

• Icelandic = rolling
• Latin = beardless
• Latvian, Lituanian, Persian, Ukranian = wolff
• Slovak = vols