Olin Delverson is a supporting antagonist in the 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn. He is an Oseram delver, who is skilled in the exploration of ancient ruins. He is also Erend's former friend.
However, Olin would be later coerced by the Shadow Carja cult, Eclipse, under Helis's orders by holding his family captive, including his wife Enasha and his unnamed son to a farmstead.
His role in the Proving Massacre would play a pivotal role in the story, where the Nora Huntress Aloy would track him down in the excavation site of Rockwreath and reveal more about HADES, Helis, and the cult, as well as the mysterious Old One known as Elisabet Sobeck.
He is voiced by Chook Sibtain.
Appearance[]
Olin appears to be a 30-year-old adult male, presumably middle-aged. His skin is olive or dark tan, and his eyes are dark brown. Olin has a goatee and sideburns and is bald. On his right ear, he wears an orange-coloured Focus. His Oseram clothing consists of a thin shirt with a front opening, a big belt around his waist, and orange patterned slacks. He is considered to be short and stocky, but he has a barrel chest.
Personality[]
Olin is a carouser, like most Oseram, but he's also a diligent worker who isn't frightened making his hands dirty. He is a modest man who is deeply committed to his family. Helis would later leverage over it by coercing Olin to serve the Eclipse, thus betraying his friend Erend and Sun-King Avad's trust permanently. He also has a strong sense of honour, as evidenced by his willingness to die at Aloy's hand, since he deserved punishment for his role in the Proving Massacre.
Background[]
Post Red-Raids[]
The majority of Olin's explorations took place in The Claim, an Oseram tribal area. His abilities landed him a job as a scout for Avad's court. As a result, he chose to based himself in Meridian, the Carja capital.
He most likely met and married his wife, Enasha, a Carja woman who bore him a son, here. He also got friends with Erend, a member of Avad's Vanguard who subsequently became the captain. He never told Erend much about his life and history, and Erend never questioned him about it, despite the fact that they were friends and drinking buddies. He was adequately compensated for his service to Avad, which included excellent living accommodations in Meridian.
Coerced by the Eclipse[]
Hearing about Olin's position and abilities, the Eclipse leader known as Helis intended to forcefully enlist him, using his wife and son as leverage. Helis kidnapped them when Olin was on a dig near the ruin known as Maker's End.
On a datapoint, he recorded a holographic message to Olin in which he threatened Olin with a horrible end if he did not cooperate. When Olin emerged from the ruins, he was greeted by Eclipse cultists.
When they informed him about their plans for him, he scoffed at first. When he saw Helis' message, though, his amusement turned to horrified compliance. He became the Eclipse's reluctant agent from that day forward, subsequently betraying Avad and Erend.
However, because the Eclipse had acquired important details about him, he also discovered details about them. He discovered they were a Shadow Carja cult, with Helis as the leader. He also discovered that Helis was not the one to whom they eventually reported. Instead, their supreme commander was a demon named HADES, whom he could only characterise as a malicious spirit, which in reality is one of the rogue AIs formerly part of GAIA's Subordinate Functions.
The Eclipse bestowed a Focus on Olin and ordered him to return to Meridian, where he was watched and listened to at all times. He was also deployed on multiple delves to aid with the exhumation of ferasome ancient machines, known as the Faro Machines.
He initially assumed they wanted them for scrap, but he would eventually learn the truth. He transformed his basement into a hidden chamber, locking it with a strong door in the floor that he buried beneath a rug, to organise and keep track of his work for the Eclipse.
He saved the datapoint detailing Helis' persuasion, a map depicting the sites of delves he performed for the cult, and a record of the entire adventure mailed to his wife at this spot. In the datapoint, he talked about his shame, concern for their life, and the possibility of being caught, as well as his role in the Proving Massacre.
Proving Massacre[]
Sun-King Avad commissioned a series of diplomatic missions about two months following Olin's enlistment, sending representatives with letters of repentance to the tribes his father Jiran had persecuted during his dictatorial rule.
The Nora tribe was the target of one of these missions. A priest called Irid led the group, which was joined by Erend and Olin, who served as a scout.
As a result, Olin was present as Irid read the missive from Avad to a gathered crowd of Nora, wearing his Focus as always. Another Focus user, Aloy, a young female aspirant in the Proving, picked up on the signal. Aloy approached Olin and sought to chat with him about it, as he was the only other Focus user she had ever encountered.
Olin was evasive on the matter, as he often was, knowing that the Eclipse was watching and listening. But then he heard HADES' voice for the first and only time, as it yelled loudly in his ear, "SYSTEM THREAT DETECTED!" This was a direct response to Aloy's appearance.
He grimaced because the yell was so excruciatingly loud. He quickly excused himself and walked away from her, explaining that his Focus had stopped working. He reiterated this deception in a future encounter with her. That night, he slept restlessly, knowing that what he had heard was HADES ordering the killing of this young woman, but he had no idea why.
The next day, at the conclusion of the Proving, the Eclipse attacked. The cultists killed many aspirants, but Aloy saved many others by engaging and killing the cultists.
Helis personally attacked Aloy and almost killed her. However, she survived and, by scanning a Focus from a dead Eclipse commander, learned that she was the target of the attack, and that the killers had seen her through Olin’s Focus.
She was determined to track Olin down, interrogate him for the identity of the killers, and deliver lethal justice to him for his part in the massacre. She was made a Seeker by two of the Nora High Matriarchs, Jezza and Teersa, in order to do this. Meanwhile, the delegation, including Olin, was immediately escorted out of Nora territory, and returned to Meridian.
The Eclipse's Intentions[]
Soon later, the Eclipse summoned Olin to what he mistook was another delve in the Rockwreath, a site in the Carja Sundom. As usual, he assisted in the exhumation of ancient war machines, with two of them, which are known as Corruptors.
But what occurred next shocked him: the cultists had connected a device to them this time, allowing HADES to activate them. The Devil that the Eclipse served, in his opinion, was summoning an army of ancient machine demons from under the ground to carry out its will. He realised at the time that HADES and the Eclipse had rather malicious ambitions for the Earth, and that he had aided in furthering them.
Aloy finally caught up with him at this point. She'd gone to Meridian, investigated his residence, discovered his hidden basement, learnt about his forced recruitment through a threat to his family, and established through his journal that the Proving Massacre was in fact an assassination attempt on her life.
She arrived at the Rockwreath just in time to see the reactivation of the Corruptors and to hear Olin's terrified reaction. She dispatched the cultists and Corruptors before focusing her attention on Olin. Olin didn't make a move against her, patiently answering her questions and telling her what he knew about the Eclipse, Helis, and HADES.
He didn't beg for mercy; instead, he informed Aloy that he felt he deserved to die and advised her not to hesitate. He only requested that she save his family after he would be killed by her or with her saving him in the Eclipse farmstead.
Fate[]
Spared[]
It is clear at the end of Aloy's interrogation that Olin was not a bad guy; rather, he was a vulnerable man forced into evil to save his family's life. As a result, she spared him, reminding him that sparing his family's life would be the first step toward repentance. Olin was taken aback and appreciative for her kindness.
His family was held captive in the Spurflint Mountains, far south of Meridian. Following their rescue by Aloy and Olin, Olin revealed to Enasha about the blood on his hands. She didn't pass judgement on him, instead urging him to return to The Claim with her and their son. Olin was hesitant to assist Aloy fight the Eclipse because he felt obligated to do so, but Aloy announced that he owed her no obligation and that his responsibility now was to rebuild his life with his family. Olin thanked her again for her kindness, and she walked away.
Killed[]
Helis had great influence over him by taking his family hostage, but the truth remained that he was directly responsible for the killings of scores of innocent people. Because to him, many of families have been ruined, including her own.
Aloy decided he had to die as a result of this. He humbly bowed to her decision, requesting that she not inform his family of his actions. Following that, Aloy went to the Spurflints and rescued his family, only informing Enasha that he died an honourable death and that his sole concern had been their protection.
[]
 Villains
| ||
Artificial Intelligences Organisations Carja Shadow Carja Banuk Oseram Tenakth Londra's Devotees Far Zenith | ||