ORINI

Real Name: Orini

Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional being

Occupation: Dormammu's "closest" disciple

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Dormammu, Umar

Enemies: Clea, Dr. Strange, Mindless Ones, Rahl, other disciples of Clea

Known Relatives: G'uran, Oka'an (ancestors); Olnar (father, deceased); Clea (daughter); Umar (former lover)

Aliases: Captain Orini (title granted by Umar)

Base of Operations: The Dark Dimension

First Appearance: (Unidentified) Strange Tales I#126 (November, 1964); (named) Dr. Strange II#7 (April, 1975)

Powers/Abilities: Orini was never trained in the ways of the Mhuruuks and consequently his magical powers remain weak, but he is capable of casting eldritch bolts of energy. He is also able to wield magical instruments, including a gem designed to temporarily disrupt the Mindless Ones' barrier.

History: (Dr. Strange II#9 (fb)/Dr. Strange II#72 (fb)/Dr. Strange III#22/2) - "Long ago," Orini, Olnar's son, was still "barely past boyhood" (while Umar and Dormammu were "ever ageless"). He had been dismissed by the Faltinians as "harmless", but his good looks were noticed by Umar, whose interest "in the ways of matter" had always been more "intimate" than those of Dormammu.

Umar seduced Orini with "honeyed lies" ("you spoke of your mother who was human"). They made love, but after losing her virginity, Umar found sexual intercourse "disgusting". Six "cycles" later, she gave birth to Clea, which further imbalanced Umar's sanity, and also made her unable to revert to her Faltinisan form, resulting in conflict with her brother and eventual exile.

(Dr. Strange II#8 (fb)) - Clea told Doctor Strange how, when she grew up, Orini had become one of Dormammu's closest disciples and how that had caused her own status to rise, being seen as a "princess".

(Captain America/Nick Fury: The Otherworld War#1) - In October, 1944, the Dark Dimension was visited by a number of people from Earth, including several Nazis led by the Red Skull. Orini stood at Dormammu's side as he confronted the Red Skull, and offered to let him live if he would bring him the Eye of Agamotto, which was in the possession of Captain America.

(Strange Tales I#126/2) - Orini tended to Dormammu as Dr. Strange invaded the Dark Dimension for the first time. He alerted Dormammu that Dr. Strange had passed the G'uranthic Guardian, and Dormammu set about preparing an attack against him.

(Strange Tales I#132/2) - When Dormammu was empowering Baron Mordo to defeat Doctor Strange, Clea asked Orini what was the Dread One's plan, but her father told her it was wise to not inquire.

(Dr. Strange II#8 (fb)) - Clea told Doctor Strange how, after she had met him and became a traitor in her people's eyes, she disgraced her father and endangered his position.

(Dr. Strange II#7) - After Dormammu's defeat at the hands of the Scarlet Witch in the Avengers-Defenders crossover, Dormammu stole the energies of Gaea to regenerate himself. An aged Orini helped Umar bring down Doctor Strange and at Umar's command, Orini placed Strange beneath the G'uranthic Guardian to drain his power. After Strange had awakened, Orini explained that the folks in the Dark Dimension despised him since he defied Dormammu who ruled and protected them. When Clea showed up to rescue her lover, Orini unmasked himself before her, and she found herself unable to assault him.

(Dr. Strange II#8) - After Dr. Strange succeeded in recovering his power from the G'uranthic Guardian, he and Clea briefly fought Orini. The fact that her father was ready to strike her dead caused Clea to turn her back on him and her past.

(Dr. Strange II#9) - Orini travelled to Earth to tell Umar Doctor Strange had reclaimed his powers and escaped. Umar empowered him and he struck Clea. Strange fought Orini, trapping him in the bands of Cyttorak. After both Dormammu and Umar had been defeated, Orini took his mistress's body back to the Dark Dimension, wishing to never see his daughter again.

(Dr. Strange II#69) - Orini brought two members of the rebellion secretly led by Clea before Umar. When Umar found that she could not read the rebellion members' minds, she ordered Orini to have the Mindless Ones dispose of them. As Orini lowered the barrier to throw them in, he and his men were assaulted by Rahl, a member of the rebellion, and he dragged Orini into the Mindless Ones' prison along with them. The other guards believed Orini to be dead, unaware that the rebellion base was located in the midst of the Mindless Ones. Orini was taken prisoner by the rebellion and handed over to Clea.

(Dr. Strange II#71 )- Clea tried to break down Orini's mental shields but failed, until Dr. Strange showed up (disguised as an Outcast Mhuruuk).

(Dr. Strange II#72) - Dr. Strange succeeded in breaking Orini's mental shields down with the Eye of Agamotto and learned that Clea was Umar's daughter. Clea then confronted her father while Strange was away helping the rebellion. It appeared that Orini struck her down and delivered her to Umar, but Clea had actually cast an illusion to disguise herself and her father as each other.

(Dr. Strange II#73) - Believing Orini to be Clea, Umar had him sealed within a mystic capsule. The deception was not revealed until Clea herself dropped her disguise so that she could confront Umar in battle, finally besting her and claiming the Flames of Regency.

(Dr. Strange II#74) - Clea banished Umar and Orini in separate mystic capsules to far-away dimensions.

(Dr. Strange III#22) - Dormammu eventually returned to power in the Dark Dimension, and obtained the capsules containing Umar and Orini. He set Umar free, but had not meant to revive Orini, and so cast him back into another dimension. Umar's reaction was: "He means nothing to me."

(Dr. Strange III#73 (fb)) - Orini eventually allied himself with Clea when Dormammu became power-hungry. He finally went to Dormammu to beg his forgiveness and return to his service, but Dormammu refused, and slew Orini.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko but given more complete form by Steve Englehart, Gene Colan and John Romita Sr.

On the first page where he is introduced, Orini's name is spelled "Olini."

What does Orini really look like? : It has never been explained why G'uran, Olnar and Young Orini were colored with blue skins in the Book of Vishanti, while Old Orini was shown to be pink-skinned when he was first introduced, and Clea is also pink-skinned. Even Young Orini was shown with pink-skin in Dr. Strange II#9 and#72, totally contradicting the Book of Vishanti's sequence. One also notes than in#72, he is depicted with white hair, not black!

A torturous explanation would be to postulate that skin-color and hair-color in the Dark Dimension are like hair styles on Earth, a personal choice. Born with blue skin / black hair, Orini (like many others in the Dark Dimension) would have wanted to "copy" the pink-skinned forms of Dormammu and Umar whom he admired, and merely willed his skin color to change. Yeah, that's the ticket... Logivally, this means Clea could also change her skin color if she wanted to...

Considering that Orini and Umar were both virgins when they did it, once, the fact that the experience was something of a disaster isn't entire surprising. Further, considering that Umar's other lover of record was the far more experienced Baron Mordo, and she didn't seem to mind his attentions, one might well consider what might have happened in "What If Unmar and Orini Had Done It Again (And This Time Enjoyed It)"?

by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Orini should not be confused with:

• Orion, Truthsayer's dog, @ Darkhold#16
• Orion of Earth-Amalgam, son of Thanoseid, ally of Punisher, @ Bullets and Bracelets#1
• Orion Rex, enemy of Marvel Boy, @ Astonishing#5

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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