Gorr

Undisputed

Kris Takahashi Storytime 1 Comment

boxinggloves

Every so often, Gorr likes to rub the lump over his eye.

He presses hard against it, but it slides slickly under his thumb. He’s tried squashing it, picking it, even ripping off the skin, but it settles into the crook where his eye meets bone. Gorr refuses to give up. Somewhere, deep in those folds of scar tissue, a memory festers, and inside that memory, an answer.

A year ago, if you wanted to know who the man was, or what his name meant, he only needed to utter three words. Check my stats. The numbers said it all. 33-0, 33 KOs. But really, they were more like KTFOs, because everyone who stepped in that ring was Knocked The Fuck Out.

A year later, and the stats tell a different story. 34-0, 33 KOs. Technically, they were still unblemished. Privately, all he saw was a stain.

Somewhere, in that tiny pebble of flesh, is the truth of what happened that night. When he’s asked to recall that match, Gorr will tell you about the din of the crowd, and the hot, stink of the arena. He recalls the lights knifing down his brow, the rubber fuming up his nostrils. He recalls failing to land a single clean shot, every jab glancing off the Khajiit’s whiskers, every hook combing his fur. He remembers almost everything about that night. Everything, save for that punch.

In those final moments, the canvas starts to rumble as the crowd stands on their feet. Gorr hears them counting down, 5, 4, 3….as the blood drips from his gash and the sweat pours down his cheek. He feels the vibration saw away at his knees, but he’s not standing any more, he’s leaning, riding the anti-gravity that is a boxer’s pride. 

The last thing he remembers is the sound of the bell.

When it was over, Gorr sat hunched over in the locker room, a cold towel draped over his head. They tell him he’s a winner, by unanimous decision – and still, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Across the hall, the Khajiit is signing autographs, shaking hands, all smiles. A gracious loser to the end. As the press start to gather around the champion, the towel drops, and a barrage of flashbulbs hits his right eye. He reaches up to cover it.

And that’s when he notices the lump.

Character Sheet – Gorr

Kris Takahashi Other 13 Comments

Gorr. He likes fighting and eating. And beards.

Gorr
Encounter Riverwood
Locations South of Ivarstead, Markarth, Various
Race Redguard Gender Male
Level PC×1 Class CombatWarrior2H
RefID XX02d6e7 BaseID 0202D184
Health Levels with PC Magicka Levels with PC
Stamina Levels with PC
Primary Skills Two-Handed, Heavy Armor, Block, Archery
Morality Violence Against Enemies Confidence Brave
Inventory Iron Armor, Hide Boots, Hide Gauntlets, Iron Warhammer, Horker Meat, Horker Stew
Voice Nile Zam Jones (Zammuel)

Gorr the Wanderer
Upon recruiting Gorr as a follower, you have the option of asking him where to go next. This conversation will effectively enable his wandering quest. Progressing through this quest will result in unlocking Gorr’s marriage dialogue, his personal quest, and setting him to wander.  It should also be noted that Gorr’s marriage question, It’s funny how the fates keep bringing us together, while accessible only by wearing an Amulet of Mara, is deliberately ambiguous. This way, you can hear the story while still avoiding a romantic overture by responding with That’s right. We’re great friends.

Gorr the Wanderer (DialogueGorr)
Stage Information
10 Gorr wanders to the camp south of Ivarstead. This video will show the exact location of the camp.
20 After meeting at Ivarstead and dismissing, Gorr will head to the Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth
30 This stage will unlock the above mentioned options and set Gorr to wander to the following locations:

  • Sundas – Anga’s Mill
  • Morndas – Orotheim
  • Tirdas – Hela’s Folly
  • Middas – Morthal
  • Turdas – Broken Tower Redoubt
  • Fredas – Whiterun Drunken Huntsman
  • Loredas – Clearpine Pond

Pit Dogs
After reaching stage 30 of his wander quest, Pit Dogs will be available by talking to Zora Fair-Child, or by bringing Zora to Gorr and speaking with him. The quest has two possible outcomes, as well variable rewards determined by the dialogue choices.

Pit Dogs (Gorrquest)
Stage Information
1 Help Zora find Gorr. This stage will be skipped if Zora is brought to Gorr and he is spoken to.
20 Gorr makes a reference to the Ivarstead conversation, that someone is casting aspersions on his character. Zora mentions a suspicious character headed toward Whiterun.
30 At the Drunken Huntsman, the player is introduced to J’Sharr, who is the character mentioned in Gorr’s marriage request dialogue. He mentions an underground pit fighting ring in Fort Sungard, and asks the group to attend his match.
40 J’Sharr will proceed to poison the Dragonborn. The PC will wake up in a cage, after which J’Sharr will quickly free the PC and usher him/her to the pits.
70 After watching Gorr defeat a combatant, the player has the opportunity to mingle. 3 NPCs, Valenor, Ignatius and the Fair Lady will have conversation strings. Talking to the Fair Lady will advance the quest.
75 The PC is partnered with J’Sharr and must battle 2 Alik’r Warriors in the Pit. Before the fight, J’Sharr attempts to fool the player with faulty math, at which point he/she can call him on his mistake, deny payment for the fight, or accept the amount J’Sharr says the PC will win.
100 After defeating the warriors, J’Sharr provides a key to the exit and reveals Zora can be found at Skytemple Ruins. Through Gorr’s dialogue, the option will be given to kill J’Sharr now, or prioritize rescuing Zora. This will affect the outcome of the quest.
105 Killing J’Sharr immediately will result in a delay that ends Zora’s life. Eliminating her killers will end the quest.
110 It is revealed Zora did not have a match, but was sold to a necromancer. If J’Sharr is ignored she can be saved.
135 The group returns to the Pit to find out information on J’Sharr’s whereabouts. The player can progress the quest by convincing Valenor you want to make a deal or bribing the Fair Lady.
140 J’Sharr’s location is revealed to be Orotheim. In the cave, the player finds a Khajiit and three henchmen, along with any bandits generated by the vanilla game.
200 Upon killing the Khajiit, a scene will trigger and the quest will complete.

Notes: J’Sharr is the Khajiit mentioned in Gorr’s marriage dialogue and his initial foray to Ivarstead. The Khajiit in the cave bears a striking resemblance to J’Sharr, but is unnamed for a reason. It is unlikely that J’Sharr would be careless enough to trust the player or divulge the information to the Fair Lady, and it is implied he escaped. Killing J’Sharr is possible if the PC is willing to sacrifice Zora.  Zora’s death, however, will result in breaking a number of quests with which she is involved in.

For more information about Gorr, check out his character profile here.

Character Profile – Gorr

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles 4 Comments

You hear this roar.  So loud it rumbles in your chest. You don’t know who they cheer for. What they cheer for.  Victory, glory, or death.
– Gorr

There’s really only two things you need to know about Gorr. He’s a big man, with a big laugh. A man who crushes mead steins on his head, and laughs heartily at his own foolishness. Gorr can be imposing, and he’s damn sure intimidating, but only when he isn’t smiling. When he puts his big paws on his belly and roars, all the fears inside you are swept away.

You could say he’s a gentle giant, but he’s hardly gentle to bandits. He might pet a mudcrab, but if he’s hungry it won’t stop him from eating it. He’s a man with his own code, but not the brooding type who spends all day thinking about it. He goes where his stomach takes him, or he’ll flip a bandit and let you call it in the air. Heads we go this way. Tails we go that way. Yet in the end, it doesn’t really matter. As long as you’re going somewhere, there’s adventure to be had.

People often tell me they love Gorr’s voice, and by proxy, they love Nile’s voice as well. I think it’s safe to say, however, that Nile sounds nothing like Gorr. That’s how much range he has an actor.  His original audition for Gorr was more of a raspy, sinister voice. What I wanted was something that filled the room, a voice that made his foes tremble and his friends rally. With this in mind, Nile went back in the lab, jacked up the bass, and Gorr spoke for the first time.

The original difficulties weren’t surprising in the least. From squatter to wanderer, follower to marriage candidate, Gorr’s development has always been a bit circuitous. Most times I have an idea of who the character is going to be, but in some cases, they’re molded out of something far more nebulous. Gorr, for instance, was a character who was built around a concept. It wasn’t about a big brute who loved horkers, or even the lore of the Imperial City Arena. From the beginning, Gorr was a character that was fashioned out of my love of sports.

But that’s the beauty of the Arena, ain’t it. Nothing’s ever written, nothing’s ever known.

When you write a story, there’s always a line you can’t cross. There’s a point of demarcation where the reader loses their sense of disbelief. If halfway through Gorr’s arena story, I said he went back to his quarters and fucked a unicorn, that would be grounds for an uninstall. The beauty of sports is, that line can be crossed every day. Unbelievable things happen. Unicorns may or may not be fucked. You just never know. That’s why we watch – to see that 40 point comeback, or the underdog beating the undefeated champion. We’re amazed when the old, overpaid star, redeems himself with a single game, after you and everyone else had buried him and prayed for the groundskeeper to rake off his face. In sports, you’re free to imagine. Whether it’s a kid attending his first baseball game, or a little Redguard sneaking his way into the Imperial City Arena, it’s the same. Nothing is written. There’s no hand guiding you to a single end. You never lose your sense of wonder.

That’s why we cheer. Why we’re so passionate about watching a bunch of grown men play with balls and sticks. Sports is the closest thing we have to a meritocracy, and the closest thing we have to the surreal. Every year there are thousands of articles and blog posts and talk radio rants that try to unravel the alchemy of it all, and every year there’s an outcome that leaves us holding our alembic. In the information age, when everything is researched and perused and analyzed, when algorithms predict the future with startling accuracy and all the answers are there at the click of a mouse, there’s something to be said about being surprised, even when the outcome isn’t all that surprising.

The Grand Champion can win a hundred matches and name a skeever as his next opponent, and the audience will still hold their breath. Unlike the stories, it’s always a surprise when the hero wins.  ‘Cause in the Arena, the hero’s allowed to fail.