Based on a Japanese light novel series written by Yoshinobu Akita. It was adapted into manga, two anime television series and a video game.
After publishing an award-winning Japanese-style fantasy novel Inside a Sparkle from the Snow the creator of Orphen Yoshinobu Akita, who possessed deep admiration for European and American literature, started his work on a European-style fantasy about the magically created world of Orphen inhabited by characters with deep personalities that make a reader empathize with them.
The series Orphen came about when author Akita, with Yuuya Kusaka as illustrator, created a series of light novels called Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey. It consists of 20 novels which were first published by Fujimi Shobo under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko label in the Monthly Dragon Magazine between 1994 and 2003, and was the basis for the first anime and manga series. In November 2019, a light novel known as the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Anthology was also released. It features a collection of original stories written by Akita, as well as guest writers such as Hajime Kanzaka, Yutaka Kono, Koushi Tachibana, Miya Kazuki, and Yomi Hirasaka. Ryo Mizuno was in charge of commentary while the illustrations and cover were drawn by Kusaka.