#oronir

In their “canon,” Oday isn’t the Warrior of Light, but one of the original “Warriors of Light,” aka the party that got yote into a rift when Louisoix realized there wasn’t gonna be any winning against Bahamut at Carteneau.

Oday tumbled out five years later near Ul’dah, taking on the name Nergui (literally “no name,” i.e. a name given to evil spirits to mislead them) and quietly rejoining the adventurer’s guild. They were content to stay on the down-low, but that pesky sense of justice and their bad habit of standing up for the downtrodden got in their way, and they ended up as guest of honor at a banquet thrown by the Sultana and their old friend General Raubahn -- who, like everyone else, didn’t remember them. Knowing they had to get out of Ul’dah before memories broke them, they took Raubahn’s offer of being his emissary and, after confessing their true identity, left the city.

However, along the way, they met a Viera by the name of Ressaunt, who was similarly hailed as a hero in Gridania -- and who was similarly tasked with bringing the proposal of memorial services to the other two leaders. They fell in together, and Oday discovered that Ress also possessed the Echo when he saw a vision of the Calamity -- specifically, what Oday saw of it.

Flashing forward a bit, they joined the Scions together, already friends, and Oday once again confessed that they remembered many of the main members of the group, since they were one of the “Warriors of Light.” A Roegadyn woman snorted and said, “So was I.” (Indeed she was -- Doenlona Wyssbharwyn, monk and champion of the deadpan snark. Other old party members re-met along the way include Zieh’to Pahjantal, Miqo’te red mage; and Vespersineaux “Ves” Evequaint, Elezen white mage.)

Oday saw hope in Ress, and they promised to keep him safe and be at his side. Through good times and bad, they stuck with him, and it turned out mostly well. It was on the way to the Azim Steppe that Ress noticed Oday getting quieter and quieter, and when he asked what was wrong, they simply said, “There are places on the Steppe I’m not allowed to go. I’m not even permitted to visit my husband’s grave.”

This being the first time Oday had ever even mentioned to him a husband, let alone a dead one, Ress was understandably taken the fuck aback. Turned out that Oday was originally known as Oduyanga Oronir, born into a highly tradition-devoted clan against which they chafed, and chafed hard. However, their saving grace came in the form of Altanaran “Altan” Oronir, next in line to the khan’s seat, who saw Oday’s fierce heart and fell in love, and his younger brother Magnai, as proud and strong as Oday. Oday fell in love in return with Altan and his kindness and steady-eyed understanding, and the two of them were wed shortly after Altan became khan. Their marriage was blissfully happy, but tragically short -- Altan was grievously wounded during a Naadam less than two years later, and after Magnai, promising he would win, ran off to try and do so, Oday, also wounded, didn’t dare try to carry Altan to the healers alone in the middle of a melee. Their husband died cradled in his injured spouse’s arms.

Less than six months later, with Magnai as the new khan, the elders of the clan attempted to bring the rebel to heel by invoking the tradition that a widow of a chief would marry the next. Oday refused and, frustrated with the Oronir tribe’s refusal to accept the change they and Altan had tried to make, had a knock-down-drag-out argument with Magnai that ended with Oday exiled from the tribe.

And now they head to the Steppe for the first time in years...

(Spoilers: Oday wins the Naadam and becomes khagan, as they had planned with Altan for the Naadam in which he died, by defeating Magnai after stopping him from killing their friend and a very violent rehash of their last argument; they’re absolutely delighted to turn the entire fucking Steppe on the Imperials who show up. And they maybe fall in love again with a certain fellow exile, this one from Doma...)

More Altan because Smith’s a fruit (affectionate) and took extra screenshots of him: