Ourea

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

Ourea
Culture	Banuk
Gender	Female
Position	Shaman
Family	Aratak (brother)
Portrayed by	Necar Zadegan (voice)

Ourea is a major character in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. She was the shaman of a werak based in the Banuk region known as The Cut, in the settlement Song's Edge. Her brother Aratak is the werak’s chieftain. She formed a strong bond of friendship with the 21st century artificial intelligence CYAN, which she believed to be a spirit. This bond led her to go to all possible lengths to aid it when it was captured and imprisoned by the A.I. HEPHAESTUS.

She took part in a successful expedition with her brother and the Nora huntress Aloy to free CYAN, willingly sacrificing her life in order to free her friend.

Appearance

Ourea appears to be a middle-aged woman with a dark skin complexion. Her eyes are a dark brown. She is short and has a small frame. Ourea wears a sleeveless outfit that consists of a top made from blue fabric and light gray pants. Ourea also has accessories across her body such as a belt and neck piece that look to be made of animal bones or machine parts. Ourea also wears a headdress that is blue. She appears to either shave her head or have very short hair.

History

Aratak and Ourea grew up in Song’s Edge as members of the area’s strongest werak. As adults, they came to serve as the werak's Chieftain and shaman respectively, with Ourea taking Naltuk as an apprentice.

Ourea’s skills as a shaman earned her membership in the Conclave, a conglomerate of the shamans of the most respected weraks. When a young, mysterious purported shaman named Sylens appeared from the Owl's Watch werak, Ourea was distrustful of him. However, runners sent to check with the Owl's Watch verified his identity. The rest of the Conclave were impressed by his unparalleled knowledge of the machines. Despite holding onto her distrust of him, Ourea really admired his knowledge and wished to learn from him. Eventually, the Conclave made Sylens a member, and he attended one of their yearly meetings at the Malmstrom, their most secret and sacred meeting place.

The next year, on their arrival at the site, the Conclave found that the caves housing all of their accumulated machine components had been looted. Suspecting Sylens, they immediately sent hunters after him. None were ever seen again, nor were those in the Owl's Watch who had vouched for him. All the shamans, including Ourea, swore an oath of silence about him, leading Sylens to become a rumor among the Banuk.

During the Red Raids, when the Carja invaded the Banuk territory to capture Banuk for sacrifice, Ourea was separated from her werak. Alone with Carja raiders hot on her heels, she unsuccessfully sought to escape them in the mists of the Rimedrifts. When that failed, she took refuge in an ancient ruin, which turned out to be the auxiliary control center of the Firebreak project. The raiders followed her and entered the ruin, searching for her. Hiding in the center’s control room, she heard CYAN’s disembodied voice. The benevolent AI sealed the door to the control room, keeping the Carja out. In need of repairs, CYAN asked Ourea for help. Ourea agreed, performing the repairs under CYAN’s guidance. Ourea, believing CYAN to be a spirit of the Blue Light, formed a strong friendship based on CYAN’s need for company and Ourea’s need for companionship. CYAN, knowing of Ourea’s ignorance of ancient technology and strong spiritual beliefs, never revealed its true nature to her.

Three years before the Liberation of Meridian, CYAN receiving a network request, which she eagerly accepting. However, she flooded with malicious code and enslaved by HEPHAESTUS. CYAN desperately tried to convey the problem to Ourea, and due to her mention of a malware daemon, Ourea believed that a powerful, evil spirit called the Daemon, akin to a demon, had captured CYAN. Communication between Ourea and CYAN was then cut off.

Ourea, along with Rea, escaping during the Liberation of Meridian.

On her way back to her tribe, Ourea was captured by the Carja and taken to Meridian. Instead of being sacrificed, the Carja decided instead to utilize her skills as a shaman to help them capture more machines to loose upon sacrificial victims in the Sun-Ring. During the Liberation of Meridian, Ourea was able to escape Meridian and return to the Cut.

Ourea trying to speak to CYAN.

Upon her return, Ourea told Aratak of the spirit captured by the Daemon. Aratak gathered a cohort of the werak’s best hunters and, led by Ourea, mounted an expedition to Thunder’s Drum to free CYAN. The expedition failed disastrously, unable to enter Cauldron EPSILON that HEPHAESTUS had constructed within, and most of the hunters were killed by machines. Ourea, Aratak and other survivors were forced to retreat, and returned to Song’s Edge. Aratak was bent on another expedition, this time with the primary purpose of destroying the Daemon, whose machines had over time made life in The Cut much more dangerous than normal. However, he refused to allow Ourea to go due to his resolve to protect her, something which he had harbored considerable guilt at being unable to do when she was captured by the Carja. This over-protectiveness had led to friction between them, which came to a head when he excluded her. She was outraged, but could not get him to reconsider. Instead she secluded herself at her retreat, the ruin where she first encountered CYAN. Here she desperately and fruitlessly tried to speak to CYAN using shamanistic prayers and rituals.

Ourea meeting Aloy.

When Aloy arrived at the retreat, Ourea was shocked. Ourea then watched with further amazement as Aloy briefly reestablished communication with CYAN before HEPHAESTUS terminated it again. Believing Aloy to be the answer she sought, Ourea told her about CYAN, her relationship with it and its capture by the Daemon. On learning of Aloy’s interest in going to Thunder’s Drum herself to investigate the Daemon, she quickly hatched an plan that would allow both of them to go: Aloy would formally challenge Aratak for his chieftaincy and win. Aloy was reluctant, but Ourea convinced her that it was the only way. Aloy challenged and bested him, earning the chieftaincy and Aratak’s respect.

Ourea overseeing the start of the challenge.

Ourea thanking Aloy for her help and warning her about Sylens.

Ourea went to Firebreak’s enormous perimeter wall, where she and Naltuk made final preparations. Upon Aloy’s arrival, Ourea thanked her for making her wish to go on the expedition a reality. At Aloy's insistance, Ourea also told her about Sylens and what happened at the Malmstrom. Upon Aratak’s arrival, Ourea and Naltuk performed a ritual that led to the entrance door opening, which in actuality, was triggering the fire escape protocol by blowing smoke into the facility's vents. She, Aloy and Aratak ventured into the ruin, eventually making it to the Cauldron door. HEPHAESTUS tried to stop them with a Daemonic Thunderjaw, but the three were able to stop them, allowing Aloy to open the door.

The expedition beholds the inside of EPSILON.

When the door opened, the three got their first look inside EPSILON, beholding HEPHAESTUS’ complete control of the facility before venturing in. They periodically stopped to hear messages from CYAN from when she temporarily slipped free of HEPHAESTUS’s control. They outlined a method of defeating HEPHAESTUS and freeing her: go to the core and override it. Due to their ignorance of ancient technology, many of the details were lost on Ourea and Aratak, but Aloy explained them in simple terms in the context of their culture.

The expedition finds CYAN.

Arriving at the core, they also found the main control center, where CYAN was imprisoned. Ourea watched as Aloy temporarily established communication with the AI, and begged it for directions on how to aid it. Before the contact was terminated by HEPHAESTUS, CYAN informed them of new anti-human hunter-killer units that HEPHAESTUS had developed and was planning to deploy. Warned by Aloy that an all-out machine attack from HEPHAESTUS was certain once she accessed the core, Aratak had one final conversation with Ourea, telling her that he would have wanted her to wait there in safety while Aloy and he went on to the core and did what was necessary, but he knew what her response would be. In this conversation, the rift between them was healed, and their sibling love became apparent. At the core, they and Aloy successfully managed to defeat the Fireclaw that HEPHAESTUS sent after them.

Ourea sacrifices her life to free CYAN.

However when Aloy tried to override the core, HEPHAESTUS sent a powerful electric discharge through it, knocking her out. Ourea, determined to free her friend no matter the cost, picked up Aloy’s spear and, ignoring Aratak’s plea not to do so, performed the override herself, copying what she had seen Aloy do. The electrical discharge hit her next, but Ourea stood strong, ignoring the pain until the override was completed. The override freed CYAN, which informed them that it was going to initiate a chain reaction that would destroy EPSILON. However the injuries Ourea sustained from the electrical discharge were fatal. She collapsed and died in Aratak's arms, but not before hearing CYAN inform her that it was free. Unable to carry her body, the grief-stricken Aloy and Aratak escaped EPSILON before it was destroyed, but not before Aratak took Ourea’s Bluegleam pendant in memoriam.

Legacy

Aratak went to Ourea’s Retreat, where CYAN had transferred itself there. CYAN had recorded its conversations with Ourea and replayed the one in which she informed CYAN that she would enlist Aratak to help free it. Her love and admiration for him was evident in the message. Aratak listened with heavy, sobbing breaths, tears in his eyes. Upon Aloy’s arrival, he composed himself and went outside. CYAN told Aloy that it felt profound grief at Ourea’s death, and hoped that subsequent conversations with Aratak about her would lead to catharsis for them both. Aratak told Aloy that he finally understood why freeing CYAN was so important to Ourea.

Ourea's apprentice Naltuk succeeded her as the werak’s shaman.

Personality

At first glance, Ourea was somewhat of a recluse, preferring the company of machines and spirits over people. However, beneath that exterior was a compassionate woman who would protect her loved ones at any cost. She seemed to have an inclination towards the marginalized, taking the aspiring shaman Naltuk under her wing and protected the Banuk painter Sekuli from being exiled.

Trivia

• In Ancient Greek myth, Ourea is the name of a group of 9 primordial deities that ultimately form the mountains.

Gallery

Model render

Ourea’s Bluegleam pendant

Navigation

Banuk
Aratak's Werak	Aratak (chieftain) - Aloy (temporary chieftain) - Naltuk (shaman) - Ourea (shaman) - Ruatuk - Sekuli - Signutai
Kikuk's Killers	Kikuk - Nulat
Kopilai's Werak	Kopilai (chieftain) - Aujak (shaman) - Inatut
Scars of the North/ Shattered Hearts/ Nukoni's Arrows	Tatai - Tulemak - Urkai
Signak's Werak	Signak (chieftain) - Ili - Tektuk
White Teeth Werak	White Teeth Chieftain - White Teeth Shaman - Mailen
Exiles	Arnak - Brin
Disputed	Sylens
Other members	Aluki - Anutai - Ardik - Banukai - Enjuk - Ikrie - Kamut - Kimik - Kutani - Laulai - Lauvuk - Naunuk - Opili - Opitak - Rukul - Siluk - Tikuk - Ukan - Yariki