BD.05: Dorio - The Pillar That Supported Maine

Night City, where the venomous glow of neon lights pierces the heavens and skyscrapers form an artificial starry sky. This city is a colossal apparatus of violence that grinds down the flesh and blood of those who step into it with dreams, driven by their despair as its energy source. In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, many youths are possessed by the illusion that “they alone are special,” attempting to fly closer to the sun on steel wings named Chrome (Cyberware), only to crash down tragically. Amidst this endless succession of tragedies, there is one woman who never desired to be “special,” but instead continued to shed tears of blood simply to hold on to the one she loved. That woman is Dorio Gunnarsdóttir—Maine’s right hand, his lover, and the spiritual pillar (the backbone) of the Edgerunner crew.

In this article, the fifth installment of a 14-part series of reports, we will unravel the entirety of this unique character. By integrating her grueling past left untold in the anime, the metaphors presented by Studio TRIGGER’s distinctive visual direction, the profound sorrow hinted at by the insert songs, and the theories from the community, we will thoroughly examine from a literary and philosophical perspective how the consumptive structure of Night City incinerates even the “purest devotion.”

1. The Wreckage of the Past: From the Glory of an Athlete to the Fall of a Street Beast

To deeply understand the behavioral principles of Dorio, it is necessary to unravel her roots hidden behind the main story of the anime. Her past, revealed in the tabletop RPG Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit, serves as a text that vividly demonstrates how the extreme disparity of Night City’s “High tech, low life” society usurps human dignity and dreams.

Born in Iceland, Dorio came from a family of purebred athletes. From a young age, she devoted herself to rigorous training, destined to live in the “fair world of sports with clear rules.” Eventually, her family participated in a track and field competition (the West Coast Grand Prix Circuit) held in Night City. Her father achieved a magnificent victory, but it was here that Night City’s ruthless capitalism bared its fangs. The prize money earned from a legitimate sports victory was far too meager, and to support his family, her father was forced to throw himself into the underground fighting arena—an illegal combat business hosted by the Animals, a gang that glorifies physical enhancement, where higher payouts could be obtained.

Temporarily, the family attained a wealthy lifestyle, but it was nothing more than a house of cards built next to death. Her father was caught in a conflict between the Animals and the rival hacker gang, the Voodoo Boys, and tragically lost his life. Left behind, Dorio and her mother were suddenly plunged into a life of extreme poverty.

This gruesome past had a decisive impact on the subsequent formation of Dorio’s personality. First, it marked the complete collapse of the “world where effort is fairly evaluated” known as sports. In Night City, no matter how much one trains their body and wins according to fair rules, they are powerless before overwhelming violence and capital. Her well-trained, robust physique was once her pride as an athlete, but its meaning was stripped away by the logic of the city. Second, it instilled a fierce hatred toward gangs. She deeply despised the street beasts like the Animals and the Voodoo Boys, completely abandoning her path as an athlete and sinking into the shadows of the back alleys.

Eventually, Dorio took up a gun and stepped into the void known as revenge. She tailed a member of the Animals she spotted in the city and attempted an assassination in a bar restroom, but not being a professional killer, the tables were turned on her, ending in a miserable failure where her nose was broken. At the very moment it seemed her life would be taken, a man who had been tailing her shot the Animals member dead, saving her life. That man was Maine, who was scouting for talent to form his own crew.

Dorio, whose fair dream as an athlete was killed by Night City, who failed even at revenge, and who was literally dying in a back alley. To her, Maine was not merely an underworld leader or a lover; he was the “only salvation” extended to her in the mire of despair. The background to her swearing absolute loyalty to Maine until the very end and risking her life to support him lies in this “debt of life and dignity.”

2. The Paradox of Body and Mind: The Woman Who Rejected the Curse of Being “Special”

In the anime, Dorio occupies a highly unique position within the crew. While David Martinez is possessed by the illusion that “he is special” (the omnipotence of youth), Lucy harbors the dream of “escaping to the moon” (escapism), and Maine bears the curse of “becoming stronger than anyone else,” Dorio alone shows absolutely no personal ambition or “thirst for specialness.”

Her true motivation is always directed toward “supporting Maine and protecting the pseudo-family that is the crew.” This is an extremely anomalous, “grounded” spirituality in the worldview of Cyberpunk, where people inflate their desire for recognition and attempt to draw closer to godhood by replacing their bodies with machines.

The following table compares the “spiritual pillars,” “approaches to physicality,” and characteristics based on official settings (such as the Mission Kit) among the main characters of Edgerunners.

Dorio’s extraordinary height of about 6 feet 8 inches (approx. 203 cm) visually demonstrates that she is the literal “Pillar” of the crew. This massive frame, which significantly deviates from the typical design of female characters in Japanese animation, simultaneously expresses the weight of the responsibility she bears and her maternal capacity for embrace.

Maine’s excessive dependence on Cyberware stems from his childhood trauma. Having a past where he was small, sickly, and routinely subjected to violence, he was bound by the obsession (curse) that he “must become bigger and stronger than anyone else.” Even after his experience as a soldier for the NUSA (New United States of America), the “frightened boy” inside him never disappeared, and he could only maintain his mental equilibrium by continuously patching together military-grade Chrome.

Dorio understood this precariousness in Maine more deeply than anyone else. From Episode 5 to Episode 6, when the signs of Maine’s Cyberpsychosis (hand tremors and hallucinations) became prominent, Dorio advised him in a sorrowful voice to “cut back on the chrome.” In the rules of Cyberpunk, the installation of powerful Cyberware is directly linked to Humanity Loss. Weapon-class arms (such as industrial Soviet-made arms) increasingly detach the human mind from the body. Dorio saw through the fact that Maine, in his excessive pursuit of power, was chipping away at his own soul as a human being.

However, the tragedy of an Edgerunner in a society of disparity lies in the structural violence that “if you stop, you will be preyed upon.” For Maine to remove his Chrome and regain his Humanity would mean showing weakness to the predators of Night City, exposing the entire crew he had built to danger. Dorio’s advice was a pure wish to save the one she loved, but it simultaneously harbored a fatal dilemma that could lead to the “denial of Maine’s identity (his raison d’être as a strong leader).” The reason Dorio could not stop Maine any more forcefully was arguably a tragic codependency born from loving everything about him—both his weakness and the reasons behind his bravado.

3. Visual Direction and Metaphors: Dorio’s Position Told Through Studio TRIGGER’s Colors and Composition

In Studio TRIGGER’s visual philosophy, the placement of characters within the frame, the contrast of colors, and the depiction of physical contact are always meticulously calculated as psychological metaphors. In the portrayal of Dorio, there are clear visual rules that indicate her narrative role.

3.1 The Absolute Guardian of the Back and Blind Spots

In combat scenes and pre-job briefing sequences, Dorio is intentionally often placed “diagonally behind” or “back-to-back” with Maine. This indicates that she covers Maine’s blind spots and is the only existence to whom he can literally entrust his back. While Maine is the “spear” that crushes enemies in front of him with the Projectile Launch Systems on both arms, Dorio is the “shield” that accurately eliminates surprise attacks from the rear using heavy firearms and hand-to-hand combat leveraging her massive frame. The visual despair of this composition of absolute trust being destroyed by a “shot from behind” in Episode 6 carves a deep trauma into the hearts of the viewers.

3.2 The Contrast Between Palms and Body Temperature

Among the characters who have replaced their entire bodies with cold metal via Cyberware, Dorio’s hands (despite partial enhancements) are depicted to evoke the “body temperature of flesh and blood (organic warmth)” compared to Maine’s metallic arms. In the scene where Maine suffers an attack of Cyberpsychosis and his hands tremble against his will, Dorio envelops that inorganic metallic trembling with both of her hands. Her “touch” was the lifeline (anchor) to tether Maine from the cold world of Chrome back to the warm human world. The repetitive expression of this contact highlights just how exceptional and precious her love was in Night City, a “city that rejects connection with others.”

3.3 The Mental Landscape of Fire and Desert

Right before his death, hallucinations flash back in Maine’s brain. There, Dorio’s figure transforms into one standing in an endlessly stretching, dry, yellowish-brown wasteland. This implies that in the concrete jungle of Cyberpunk, Maine’s mental landscape has already completely lost its moisture (Humanity and Empathy) and dried up. Dorio stands within that depleted, barren landscape and gently embraces him. Immediately after, her body is engulfed in hallucinatory flames, linking to her fatal wound in the real world. The episode title, Girl on Fire, is an exquisitely beautiful yet cruel literary metaphor that represents the brilliance of her life fading away as she is literally engulfed in flames, and the moment Maine’s heart is completely incinerated.

4. Separating Fact from Theory: The Truth Behind the Death in Episode 6 “Girl on Fire”

Episode 6, “Girl on Fire,” which depicts Dorio’s demise, is the most gruesome and irreversible turning point in this work. Here, it is necessary to logically distinguish and organize the “facts” explicitly shown in the anime’s depiction and the “theories” discussed within the fandom. This is because the locus of responsibility for this death is precisely what determined David’s subsequent fate.

4.1 Fact: Who Shot Dorio Through the Head?

There is a theory that has long been whispered among fans: “Did Maine, having fallen into Cyberpsychosis, see a hallucination and accidentally shoot Dorio to death?” However, a meticulous analysis of the footage makes it clear that this is a factual misconception.

At the abandoned building where they had secured Tanaka, Trauma Team and the NCPD (Night City Police Department) launch an assault. Due to an attack of Cyberpsychosis, Maine becomes unable to distinguish between reality and hallucination, and begins firing his gun wildly at Dorio, who should be his ally, within the illusion of the wasteland. To bring him back to his senses, Dorio embraces him from the front, fully aware of the danger, and attempts to inject him with Immunosuppressants. Immediately after, a bullet pierces Dorio’s head. At this moment, it can be clearly confirmed that the bullet was fired from behind Dorio (the space further back from Maine’s perspective), and the bullet that passed through the back of Dorio’s head and out her face shatters the sunglasses of Maine, who was right in front of her. Furthermore, since blood is spurting from the wound on the back of Dorio’s head, her direct cause of death is a gunshot from behind by the assault forces of the NCPD or Trauma Team (Fact).

However, just because Maine did not directly pull the trigger does not mean his guilt vanishes. Maine faces the inescapable despair that “because I had an episode, showed an opening, and made her go out of her way to care for me, I caused her death,” and his mind completely collapses. His mutter, “This mess my fault?”, signified the collapse of his very raison d’être. At this moment, Maine’s soul also died alongside Dorio.

4.2 Theory: The Trigger of the Tragedy and “Lucy’s Silence”

On the other hand, regarding the “underlying cause” that invited this gruesome situation, extremely sharp theories have been proposed within the community. Trauma Team rushed to the scene because the vitals of the restrained Tanaka had stopped. Why did Tanaka die? This stems from the fact that Lucy, who was diving into Tanaka’s brain, discovered data in Tanaka’s memories indicating that “Arasaka views David as special and intends to make him a test subject for military Implants (= intending to make him a guinea pig just like she once was).” The theory is that Lucy intentionally burned out the data to protect David, short-circuiting Tanaka’s brain and killing him.

If Lucy had told David and Maine the truth, and the entire team had dealt with the threat of Arasaka, Dorio and Maine might not have had to die in vain in that abandoned building. However, driven by Night City’s ruthless rule of “trust no one” and the fear of losing her beloved David, Lucy made the worst possible choice to conceal the truth. If this “silence born of love” by Lucy ultimately led to the snapping of the pillars that were Dorio and Maine, there is no causality more ironic and cruel. The act of trying to love and protect someone brings about the ruin of someone else. This is the true terror of Night City.

The following table structures the chain of tragedies in Episode 6.

5. The Cry of the Soul Shown by the Insert Songs: Żurawie (Cranes) and Major Crimes

Half the reason Cyberpunk: Edgerunners gained worldwide acclaim lies in its outstanding music selection. The two tracks used at the decisive turning point of the story—the deaths of Dorio and Maine—transcend the boundaries of mere BGM and are indispensable “texts of the soul” for narrating their fate and psychology.

5.1 The Metaphor of “Love Sworn for Life” via Żurawie

In the final stages of Episode 6, as Trauma Team surrounds them, Maine cradles Dorio’s corpse and begins to annihilate his surroundings in the madness of Cyberpsychosis. The song playing here is Żurawie by the Polish avant-garde band Ugory.

The use of this track, which means “Cranes” in Polish, is not merely to create a heavy atmosphere. In ornithology, cranes are known to “mate for life” once they pair up, serving as a universal symbol of loyalty and deep affection. Dorio’s devotion to Maine was exactly this “vow of the crane” itself. From the day her life was saved at the bottom of the underground, she became Maine’s soulmate, and no matter how much he was consumed by Chrome and fell into madness, she never abandoned him.

The composition of the track also meticulously traces their psychological state. It begins with a heavy, melancholic silence (ambient) akin to environmental sounds, and eventually transforms into noise and desperate vocals (screams) that sound as if they have lost their sanity, building toward the moment Maine decides to self-destruct along with Dorio’s remains. This noise and screaming perfectly vocalize the “death agony of the soul” of Maine, who, having lost his anchor in Dorio, plummets from the edge of Humanity into the abyss of Cyberpsychosis.

5.2 Major Crimes and “Crossed Wishes”

Furthermore, another track that symbolizes this work, Major Crimes by the noise rock band HEALTH, also encapsulates a profound theme connected to Dorio’s death. The striking phrase repeated in this song, “We don’t want the same thing,” pierces the cruel truth of human relationships in Night City.

Dorio wished for Maine, “You don’t need any more strength (Chrome); you are fine just the way you are, with the warmth of flesh and blood.” However, Maine wished, “To protect the ones I love (Dorio and the crew), I must become a metallic monster mightier than anyone else.” Despite loving each other deeply and thinking of each other’s well-being, because “We don’t want the same thing,” they could not avoid their destiny of ruin. This structure of crossed paths would later be completely replicated between David (who wants to become a legendary Cyberpunk for Lucy) and Lucy (who simply wants David to stay alive). Dorio’s death was the first sacrifice in the “fractal structure of love and ruin” within this story.

6. The True Nature of the Leftover “Sense of Loss”: The Curse on David and the Fate of a Consumer Society

The reason Dorio’s death was decisively important to the overall story is that it did not stop at merely being the “death of a comrade,” but carved an “irreversible curse” into the protagonist, David.

The moment the “pillar” that was Dorio snapped, Maine became unable to stand on his own, physically or mentally, and ended his life by setting himself on fire. Witnessing that spectacular end, David learns the “wrong lesson” from their deaths. It is the amplification of survivor’s guilt: “Maine and Dorio died because I (David) lacked the strength. If I had been stronger, more special, I could have saved them.”

Originally, the lesson to be learned from the deaths of Dorio and Maine should have been a realistic resignation: “Installing Chrome beyond one’s limits will destroy oneself,” and “Even if you pursue power and strength, you cannot protect the people who truly matter.” However, young David, caught in the vortex of the “illusion” of omnipotence, transplants the Cyberware left behind by Maine (Gorilla Arms and Projectile Launch System) into his own body, choosing the path of shouldering both Maine’s dream (becoming the strongest Edgerunner) and the role Dorio had borne (protecting the crew even at the cost of self-sacrifice) all by himself.

This is the epitome of the “tragedy of bearing another’s dream (curse).” During her life, Dorio put David through physical training such as running, treating him sometimes strictly, and sometimes warmly like a mother. She must have wished for David to grow up grounded as a “flesh-and-blood human,” without relying on Chrome. In fact, she harbored such human and cultural charm that the fan community imagines, “She must have had a wonderful singing voice.” Yet, ironically, her death became the decisive trigger that transformed David into a “monster of Chrome.”

6.1 The Thorough Consumption of Humans by High Tech, Low Life

The city of Night City continues to consume human lives and dignity like a giant blender. Dorio’s father was consumed, turning from a legitimate athlete into a “fighter as a spectacle,” and died in a back alley. Maine consumed his body and mind as armor to hide his weakness, and died in the flames. And Dorio consumed her unconditional love as a “cushion” to tether her loved one from the brink of Cyberpsychosis, and died pierced by a merciless bullet.

How beautiful Dorio’s existence was in this world dominated by thorough nihilism. Her way of life—dedicating everything not for her own ambition, nor to outwit others, but solely to love one clumsy man and protect his back—was a single crimson rose blooming in the mud in Night City, where calculation and betrayal rule. The performances by voice actresses Michiko Kaiden (Japanese version) and Marie Westbrook (English version) also brilliantly expressed the deep affection hidden within her toughness.

However, this city does not admire the beauty of a rose. The inorganic asphalt and the bullets of Trauma Team mechanically scatter its petals. The reason Dorio’s end, smeared in blood and fire, so violently tightens the chests of the viewers lies in the overwhelming sense of powerlessness: no matter how deep and pure her love was, before the colossal system (the society of disparity and corporate domination), it is processed as the insignificant event of “just another Cyberpunk who died on the street.”

Conclusion: The Truth Left in the Ashes and a Momentary Brilliance

Dorio Gunnarsdóttir. She was never the protagonist bathing in the spotlight at the center of the story. She had neither world-turning hacking skills nor special Cyberware to overwhelm military weapons like Adam Smasher. However, without her existence, Maine’s crew would have collapsed from the inside at a much earlier stage.

What did she leave behind? It is the fleeting yet firm proof, carved into a corner of Night City’s ruthless history, that “love certainly existed.” Dorio’s devotion went unrewarded, and her death resulted in casting a gruesome curse on those left behind (especially David). But in that moment when she embraced Maine in the blazing, illusory wasteland, amidst the cold iron tragedy of Cyberpunk, warm human souls undoubtedly touched between the two of them.

Dorio’s strength as a pillar did not come from physical brawn or gun skills. It was the “muscularity of the heart” to never look away from the weakness of the one she loved, no matter how desperate the situation. The reason we harbor an indelible sense of loss over Dorio’s death and our hearts ache at the acceleration of the story that follows her exit is none other than our soul-level understanding that, along with her, the “last bastion for maintaining sanity in this mad city” was lost. The brilliance of the blood and fire she shed illuminated the bottomless darkness of Night City for just a brief moment, and then vanished into eternal silence. That very sense of loss is the heaviest and most beautiful scar this work has left in our hearts as a piece of art.