If you are a fan of the Ori games, you may have read about the debate over Ori's gender, with some claiming that he is male, female, or even "non-binary." In this guide, I will give various facts to prove that not only does Ori have a gender, but that he is in fact a boy.

DISCLAIMER: If you believe that gender is only based on reproductive organs, or that gender can be changed, you might want to stop reading this, as it probably doesn't matter to you. As a note I do address the argument of whether the spirits in Ori even have genders to begin with, so read on if you want to hear that.

SPOILER WARNING: I assume you have played both Ori games, but if you have not, then I must warn you that this guide does have some spoilers.

Okay, now let's get into this!

Does Ori even have a gender?
Some people say that because the spirits come from leaves they don't have gender, meaning Ori would be genderless. This however is not true, because throughout the first game Ori finds Ancestral Trees that were once spirits just like him, and all of them are referred to as either he or she, there are actually none that are referred to as 'it', thus proving that the spirits do have gender.

With that said, how are we to know Ori's gender?

His Name
Ori is a Hebrew name meaning 'My Light' and though it is a gender neutral name today, it is historically used as a boys name, with the female being Orli. Of coarse, that is not nearly enough proof to prove Ori is male, it is still worth considering.

So lets look at some other facts.

His Voice (Spoilers)
Throughout Ori and the Will of the Wisps we hear a narrator with a masculine voice that sounds very similar to the Spirit Tree from the Blind Forest. This narrator turns out to be Ori, who at the end of the game becomes a spirit tree just like his father, taking the place of the past Spirit Tree from Will of the Wisps. It's also important to note that Ori is always voiced by male actors.

Now, the previous facts have been simply suggesting Ori's gender and aren't necessarily proof... But these next ones are a lot more solid.

Special Features
In Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori is referred to as he in the story animatics, now this could have technically been changed during development, but it still puts far more weight towards him being a boy.

Future comments about Ori from both the developers and others continue to support this point.

Sketch Notes
Jeremy Gritton, the lead story writer of Will of the Wisps, refers to Ori as him in his concept sketch notes found on page 141 of "The Art of Ori and the Will of the Wisps" created by FuturePress, saying, "If it hits, [Kwolok] swallows ori, chews him and spits him out for high damage..."

If any man's opinion matters, It's the story writer. That point alone is enough to convince me, but we do have more proof.

Interview
At the back of the same art book, the lead Artist, Daniel van Leeuwen also calls Ori he in the printed interview on page 261. "...Ori is still young and when he grows up, this new world is a bigger world..."

Here we see that some of the most important people on the Ori team refer to Ori as he... but we're still not done.

Future Press
FuturePress, the creators of "The Art of Ori and the Will of the Wisps," refer to Ori as a boy a couple of times throughout the book. Page 3:"Sketches, concept art and renders used to bring Ori and his closest companions to life are all presented here." And page 273: "We noticed that some of the dynamic light sources, like Ori himself, are interacting with the environment in a much more complex way..."

Now if anyone outside of Moon Studio was going to know Ori's gender, it would be someone like Future Press, who actually visited Moon Studio for interviews and inside looks. After all this though, we still have one last point to look at.

The Plushie
The Ori plush by FanGamer calls Ori he on the back of the box.

Now, I understand plushies are probably not the best place to get facts, but It is still one more piece of proof on top of everything else.

So, there you have it, 8 facts that prove Ori is most certainly a boy.

1:The spirits have gender

2: Ori is historically a boy's name

3: Ori's voice as a Spirit Tree is a man's voice.

4: In the Special features of Blind Forest it referrers to Ori as he.

5: Jeremy Gritton refers to Ori as him

6: Daniel van Leeuwen calls Ori he

7: FuturePress refers to Ori as a boy

8: The Ori plushie calls Ori he

After all this evidence towards Ori being a boy, there is next to nothing pointing to him being a girl.

IN CONCLUSION: Ori is a boy!

In the end, if you want to role-play that Ori is a girl, there is nothing wrong with that. But saying Ori IS a girl is wrong. Ori is supposed to be a boy in the cannon, and we should say he when we officially refer to him. After everything I said, I pray you understand.

Almighty God bless you no matter who you are, and thank you for reading! -Cruxader
Luke 7:1-10

I have some other things I would like to say but didn't really fit in with the point I was trying to make, so here's some relevant but scattered thoughts that didn't have a place in the guide.

I read a comment from a man who was also discussing this, and I really liked his description of how Ori acts like a little, energetic boy, which I thought was just an awesome, old fashioned, simple answer.

The description for Will of the Wisps at G 2 A also calls Ori he, but I don't know how creditable that is, so I didn't add it as one of my points.

I have read the theory that only female Spirits have the 'leaf things' that look like extra ears coming out of their heads (this theory has very little basis). From this the person writing this theory presumed that Ori must be a she....well, first, after reading this whole guide I wrote, we should both know that's not true, and if you have the art book (yes, that book again) on page 13 we see concepts of many different spirits, and almost all of them have those 'leaf things' on their heads and most of them look like definite boys.

I see a few people saying that the game refers to Ori as she, but that is just a misunderstanding of the Spirit Tree's dialogue after you first reach him, when he says, "We told Ori the tale of her misguided will." He's talking about Kuro, not Ori's misguided will.

I also have a theory that there does have to be both a male and female spirit in order for a spirit tree to make other spirits, but I think that deserves a guide of its own.

Now, as to address the argument that Moon Studios said Ori's gender is up to the players, I will say this: First, Moon never said Ori is without gender, and all of the top developers within Moon and top companies outside of Moon call Ori a boy. And think about this, if Jeremy Gritton wrote the story for will of the wisps seeing Ori as male, who knows what impact that has on the story. If he viewed Ori as a female, the story probably would be much different. I believe Moon said that simply to make as many fans as happy as possible, but if you read my entire guide, you will see that the game was made with the idea that Ori is a boy.

Do you notice that the Spirit Tree is male but Sein is female? And yet they are somehow 'one flesh' (or 'one bark')? Could there be a spirit marriage? In that case, Ori has a wife himself... but i plan on making this its own guide.

...I think Ori would play Halo if he had it. Ha ha.

"The Art of Ori and the Will of the Wisps" is an awesome book. I highly recommend it.