Ortega is a beast-man who serves as a major villain in Cornell's quest, in the Castlevania game Legacy of Darkness. He is the childhood friend of the protagonist Cornell, who turned bitter and jealous and eventually sold his soul to Count Dracula to settle their score.
Ortega is a lion type beast-man with extreme pride and a desire to be stronger than anyone, which would eventually lead to his downfall. He has something of a superiority-inferiority complex in that he has immense pride in his skills, but deep insecurities about them, and cannot stand to have someone better than him. He willingly, although pushed by jealousy, sold his soul to Dracula for the sole purpose of beating Cornell in battle.
Dracula's influence vastly amplified his negative traits, to such point that he betrayed his entire kind to the Lord of Darkness. As such, he appears in the game as condescending and patronizing. However, after his defeat he comes to understand the errors of his ways and to express guilt for his crimes. He is strong enough to effortlessly lift up the Castle's portcullis with one hand, and he can transform to a humanoid lion, the same way Cornell can turn to a wolfman. But he never fights under this aspect, which is merely a transitional states towards his full transformation.
Ortega and Cornell are part of a tribe of beast-men able to turn into powerful humanoid beasts. (They are hinted to be also able to communicate with beast and summon beast spirits through magical talismans.) Long ago, the beast-men sealed their powers to live in harmony with humans but on some occasions the seal could break, forcing everyone of them into their beast form in a state of feral rage.
One day, the seal broke and the out of control beast-men attacked and destroyed a nearby village, killing everyone within save from a baby girl named Ada. Overcome with grief and sadness, Cornell took Ada in and raised her like his sister, giving her a talisman to protect her in case the seal would break again.
Cornell and Ortega were best friends and rivals since childhood and underwent a harduous training in martial arts to become soldiers for their tribe. However, Ortega was jealous of Cornell's superior skills, a jealousy that would grow into frustration and resentment over the years. When Cornell became able to control his beast-man transformation and power through intense aesthetic training, Ortega's jealousy reached its peak and he challenged Cornell to a battle. However, without beast-man powers he was no longer a match for his friend who effortlessly defeated him.
While Cornell departed to further his training, Ortega went to the Castlevania, which had been risen by Death, Actrise and Gilles de Rais in order to resurrect Dracula. (Whether this is really Dracula or an avatar of some sort remains a matter of debate among fans.) Dracula (?) easily broke the seal keeping away Ortega's beast-man powers, and vastly increased it.
In exchange, Ortega became a servant of the Count and led Dracula's forces towards the beast-men's village, where they slaughtered most of the population and abducted Ada. Ortega knew that Cornell would follow Ada's scent to the Castlevania and storm it to rescue her, and he counted on it to challenge his former friend and prove his superiority.
Ortega hid Ada away from Dracula's servants in the Castle's Clock Tower to keep her as a bait and greeted Cornell when he entered the Castle, revealing his responsibility in the raid on the village.
As Cornell fights his way through the Duel Tower, he is forced to fight the survivors of his tribe, locked into their feral beast forms and turned into mindless killing machines by Dracula (?). Ortega ambushed Cornell atop the duel tower and forced him to fight a giant wolfman, another of their fellow beast-men whose power was brought to its fullest potential, to show him what would await him when they would do battle.
- The giant wolfman, known by fans as the Warewolf, is very slow but very resilient and uses powerful attacks. The battle takes place on a small platform surrounded by red-hot iron railings, hindering Cornell's movements. If Cornell falls on the railings, the heat gradually depletes his life-points. The Warewolf attacks with strong uppercuts, which it can infuse with electricity and which likely send Cornell onto the railings; with a body slam that Cornell must dodge to get behind the beast and strike its vulnerable back until it gets back up; and with a sonic shockwave which it telegraphs with a menacing roar.
Ortega awaits his former friend on the terrace atop the Room of Clocks and tells him that he disobeyed his lord to settle their score, being unable to forget the humiliation of his last defeat which made him feel worthless. He reveals his newfound power by turning into a huge three-headed chimera and attacks him.
Ortega under his most powerful form
Ortega is a highly powerful and dangerous enemy, who puts up a tremendous battle. He is very fast and keeps standing behind Cornell, forcing the latter to keep the lock-on activated to avoid being taken offguard. His body glows of a different colour following the attack he uses:
When he glows blue, he either delivers a powerful claw swipe, jumps high in the air to trample Cornell or leaps towards him. (Later during the fight, when he glows blue and leaps, he catches Cornell between his fangs and shakes him violently, dealing crippling damages.) When he glows green, his dragon head breathes a stream of acidic fumes that deals high damage and poisons Cornell, which needs to be cured. When he glows red, he starts flying away and his eagle head releases rings of energy that confuse Cornell and revert his commands. (Cornell must head towards left to move to his right, or towards his right to move to his left.) This move does not deal damage but can hinder Cornell considerably. When wounded enough, he starts glowing yellow to either breathe a huge stream of fire, or send many huge fireballs rain from the sky, causing flames to erupt where they land.
Cornell needs to move constantly and to strike Ortega on his sides, so as to avoid his counterattack more easily. Having the two power-ups and lots of healing items are highly advised. Also do not hesitate to turn into a wolfman to gain better offence and defence.
When defeated, Ortega comes back to his normal self and apologises to Cornell, having understood that while he had superior power, Cornell had a stronger and clearer mind and was indeed the worthiest of the two. He reveals where Ada was located and throws himself from the terrace to his doom, to make sure that the power he could no longer control would not cause any more damage.
