Oghren

"Upset? *Scoffs* I don't get upset, I get drunk!"

Oghren is a crude dwarven warrior fond of all things alcoholic. He is a possible companion to the Warden in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

Background
Oghren used to be a promising warrior of House Kondrat in Orzammar. He married a smith caste girl named Branka, who would later become a Paragon. Soon after founding House Branka it absorbed the entire House Kondrat. Branka soon took her household, with the sole exception of her husband, into the Deep Roads in search of the secrets of the legendary smith Caridin. They were not heard from again. Oghren, left behind, became a laughing stock. He started drinking, making his situation worse as he challenged another warrior over an insult and killed him in a first-blood match while drunk. Oghren was stripped of his house name and barred from bearing weapons within the city, a punishment considered worse than exile for a warrior. Oghren has spent the last two years trying to convince the Assembly, or anyone else who will listen to him, to look for Branka in the Deep Roads.

Quests
Origins

Awakening

Dragon Age: Origins
Oghren's approval will increase when you give him any alcohol, especially Ale. The one exception is Wine, which is preferred by Wynne.

Dragon Age: Awakening
Oghren continues to enjoy alcoholic gifts in the Awakening expansion.

Initial statistics
Relative attribute weightings on auto-level: strength 1.4, dexterity 0.25

Class: Warrior

Specialization: Berserker

Starting talents:


 * Warrior: Powerful, Threaten, Bravery, Death Blow


 * Berserker: Berserk, Resilience, Constraint


 * Two-Handed: Pommel Strike, Indomitable, Stunning Blows, Sunder Arms, Shattering Blows, Sunder Armor, Mighty Blow, Powerful Swings, Two-Handed Strength, Two-Handed Sweep

Plot skills
As you befriend Oghren and gain his approval, he will gain additional skills:

Dialogue points
Below are the spots where you can initiate dialogue with Oghren in Awakening. On the PC version, it can be hard to find the correct spot to click; make sure to hit "tab" and rotate the camera if it's not letting you click on it.


 * City of Amaranthine: Billboard by the stairs to the Chantry. Note that making fun of Oghren or telling him to "Stop right there." causes, while using the second option all the time will reward.
 * City of Amaranthine: The table of the weaponsmith in the market district (when talking to Sigrun).
 * Kal'Hirol - Trade Quarter: The anvil in the prison room.
 * Kal'Hirol: Cliff by the entrance of the Thaig, just if Sigrun not joined the party.
 * The Blackmarsh Undying: boat in the area you wake up in. There is an alternative dialogue if the Warden is imported and Oghren was trapped in the Fade in the Circle of Magi.
 * Vigil's Keep: The cask behind Oghren in the throne room, which can be used to initiate several conversations.
 * Schleets dialog: no positive Approval possible
 * Thanking for saving him: - option 1 - option 2  - option 3
 * Mabari chariots: no positive Approval possible
 * Paranoia dialog: option 2 -> 1 = - option 4

Dragon Age: Origins

 * "If you've ever heard of me before, it's probably all been about how I piss ale and murder little boys who look at me wrong. And that's mostly true..."
 * (Saying goodbye to Felsi) "Oh, you can't keep the archdemon waiting. You hurt its feelings, it just might turn the whole Blight around and go home. Nobody wants that."
 * "Misery, vomit and malt liquor. Ah, reminds me of home."
 * "I'm not saying I should be your first pick for a dance partner at the inaugural ball, but in the Deep Roads, I'm your man."
 * "Hey, Warden! You gotta hear this one! This human walks into a tavern! Eh heh. And there's an elf there. Ah ha ha ha! And she says, Ha ha ah ah ha! She says." (Snorts) "Ah ha!" (Falls down)
 * "This is it, Warden. 'When from the blood of battle the Stone has fed, let the heroes prevail and the blighters lie dead.' As one of the blighters, I sodding salute you. Let us show them our hearts, and then show them theirs."
 * (Snorts and laughs) "Asschabs!"
 * "Upset? *Scoffs* I don't get upset, I get drunk!"
 * (At Lake Calenhad Docks) "Ooh, that's huge. (Giggles) I wonder how long it took to erect it. (Giggles) Get it, erect it!"
 * (Inviting Leliana to join the Warden and Isabela for a threesome) "(Grunt)... T-too much to handle... (falls down) Stone...!"
 * "By the tits of my ancestors!"
 * "Shave my back and call me an elf!"
 * "That son-of-a-whore Teagan said I can't drink a whole barrel of pickle juice without passing out first. I aim to prove him wrong."
 * "Fart me a lullaby!"
 * (End combat with high health) "Excuse me while I do my Happy Dance!"
 * (Before facing the archdemon, or being left behind) "Let the stone turn red from the blood of heroes, today, I will be the warrior you taught me to be!"
 * (Talking to Grand Oak) "It's a poet tree. A Poetry, Don't you get it? (Laughs)"

Dragon Age: Awakening

 * (After defeating a Wild Sylvan) "Hey, look at me - I'm an elf! 'Trees are pretty! Tra-la-la!' "
 * (Referring to The Mother) "That is a lot of nipples."
 * "Aye. I've tried twenty-seven different types of ale and learned I'm just the right height to give a human girl a good time. That doesn't make me a good man."
 * "No one touches Oghren's junk and lives!"
 * (Imitating Anders) "Oh no, big templar man! What are you going to do with that sword?"
 * (In the Blackmarsh) "(Shrieks) I thought I saw a... I mean... Ahem."
 * (To the Architect) "Yeah, the sort of 'misunderstanding' that ends with a field of dead bodies. Uh huh, I get those sometimes."
 * "Anyway, can I have a pony?"
 * "I'm like a cherry soaked in brandy. Plump... juicy... and full of intoxicating flavor."
 * "Need something pummeled? Just say the word."

Dialogue

 * The Warden: "A lover in the dark, no wonder she left Oghren."
 * Oghren: "Eh, if I knew she had those interests I would have made some... adjustments."


 * Shale: "There was a man in the village who reminded me of the drunken dwarf."
 * Oghren: "They had some dwarves just like me, huh?"
 * Shale: "No. None of the dwarves were similar. They were quiet and respected, more or less. No, the one I remember was a human. He vomited in the street constantly. Then he wandered into a snowstorm and froze to death."
 * Oghren: "Huh? And how is that like me?"
 * Shale: "Did I say similar? I meant I hoped he was similar."
 * Oghren: "I think I had a wife like you, once."


 * Shale: Go on, order me to do something.
 * The Warden: Throw Oghren as far as you can.
 * Oghren: Hey! No dwarf tossing!


 * Oghren: It's not like they send you a letter. "Congratulations! You have been ejected from the warrior caste!"
 * Nathaniel: Do you care?
 * Oghren: Sometimes. Then I drink more and it goes away.


 * Warden: "Don't I have enough armed lunatics following me already?"
 * Oghren: "Perfect. What's one more?"


 * Warden: "Can someone take this?"
 * Oghren: "Errr...Congratulations lady, you're single."

If you have Oghren in the party during the Landsmeet & choose him as your champion when you opt to duel Loghain:
 * Loghain: "Will you face me yourself, or have you a champion?"
 * Warden: "Oghren will be my champion."
 * Oghren: "About sodding time! My ass was falling asleep from all this talk. It's all pins and needles now."


 * Varathorn: "Talks like a true child of stone."
 * Oghren: "Who you calling child, old man?"

Dialogue with an Awakening Character, Sigrun:
 * Sigrun: "For all your faults, Oghren, you are a remarkable fighter."
 * Oghren: "Really? (Laughs) Let's go 'round the corner so I can show you something else remarkable."
 * Sigrun: "It was just a friendly compliment!"
 * Oghren: "You're friendly. I'm brazen and lustful. We're even!"

Battle cries

 * "Here comes Oghren!"
 * "Scuse me while I do my happy dance!"
 * "Lets see what yer innards look like!"
 * "Time ta get messy!"
 * "What's that smell?!"

Exploit for infinite approval (Origins)

 * Once Oghren has joined the party, take him with you when you are confronting Dwyn before the The Attack at Nightfall. When you are trying to persuade Dwyn fighting for the village, an option will come up if Oghren is in the party. Choose, "You're a coward", followed by, "Stay in here, then, if you prefer." This will end the conversation and you can start it again. Oghren will gain.

Trivia

 * According to Sheryl Chee, though Oghren was written mostly by Jay Turner, most of the BioWare writers, including herself, Mary Kirby, and David Gaider, have had a hand in writing him.
 * Oghren is one of two companions with their own unique hairstyle, the other being Morrigan.
 * Although Oghren is barred from bearing arms in the city, nothing happens if you equip him with weapons in Orzammar. He even joins your party with an axe equipped.
 * In Awakening, Oghren will get a second codex entry about his new role.
 * Oghren's battle cry, "Let's see what your innards look like!", may be a reference to the dwarven companion of a very chaotic nature, Korgan Bloodaxe in the Bioware video game Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn who shouts "Let's see what yer guts be lookin' like!" during combat. Korgan is also a berserker and has an insatiable bloodlust.
 * When selected to defend the Keep in Awakening, his codex entry states he died when the darkspawn attacked. However with a fully upgraded Keep, the epilogue says he survived.
 * Many of Zevran and Oghren's party banter include references to Legolas and Gimli from The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, Oghren's personality does sometimes appear to be similar to Gimli's.
 * Oghren's reply, "No dwarf tossing!", when the Warden gives Shale the order to throw Oghren as far as Shale can, it is a reference to The Lord of the Rings movie by Peter Jackson, when Gimli claims, "No one tosses a dwarf!", which refers to the "sport" of dwarf tossing.
 * The card game Diamondback mentioned in Oghren's conversation with Alistair is a reference to a game of the same name in Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark.
 * Oghren's "Asschabs" was added as a joke between the writers of Dragon Age: Origins. David Gaider would, "[a]t least once or twice a week, [...] come in [their offices] groaning about having "chair butt", which is essentially when your butt goes numb from sitting in your chair for too long". Someone then coined the name "Association of Chair Butt Sufferers"; its abbreviation, ASSCHABS, was then written on their whiteboard. At that time, Jay Turner was writing Oghren, and the word "would be staring at him. So since it sounds like something Oghren would say, he decided to make Oghren say it, to make sure ASSCHABS was never forgotten."