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Dragon Age writer David Gaider has continued sharing stories on the series’ most beloved characters in the wake of The Veilguard’s release, most recently focusing on the origins of gay mage Dorian.
Not only was the moustachioed character first designed with a monkey companion, he was not originally gay. Instead his sexuality grew organically from his story.
“When did he become gay? Not right away,” Gaider posted on Bluesky. “Like I said elsewhere, we didn’t talk romance and sexuality until after the concepts were more in place.
“But as we were brainstorming about why this hot shot mage left Tevinter, the idea DID come up that maybe it was because he was gay. Not directly, however.”
In Tevinter – home of the mages – any deviation from the “norm” is “scandal-worthy”, said Gaider. “It said weakness. It said you couldn’t control your house. Now… THAT had real promise. The writing pit discussed it a lot. So I think it’s fair to say that the gay fairy was already circling Dorian even before we got to the romance talk.”
Gaider then wrote Dorian’s character later in development, joking his story came easily because “‘catty gay man’ isn’t digging very deep”. The conflict between Dorian and his father specifically was written somewhat from personal experience. “I wrote the entire confrontation scene in one go,” he said. “After I was done, I probably cried harder than I ever have in my life.”
CHARACTERS – Day Eight: Dorian
Now this is a fun one. It’s no big secret I have a lot of feelings about Dorian, not least of which because he was my first (and only) gay male companion. There’s a lot more to him than that, of course (as there should be), and it was quite a trip. So let’s go!— David Gaider (@davidgaider.bsky.social) 27 November 2024 at 03:23
It’s this personal experience that sets Dorian apart: while Gaider believes a writer doesn’t need to “be a minority in order to write a minority”, it’s different when a character’s story is specifically about that experience.
“Dorian’s story didn’t need to revolve around his sexuality – and, honestly, it only did so as a tangent to his family issue, but they’re so bound together it’s probably irrelevant to split them – but my writing him meant it could be. It allowed me to SAY something,” said Gaider. “That felt good. It felt right.”
Still, in the media and among players, Dorian became known overwhelmingly for being gay over other story elements. “It was annoying,” said Gaider. “Still is.”
He continued: “Overall, however, the reaction to Dorian was very positive. The number of straight men who said they romanced him still pleases me. The number of fans who privately contacted me who’d been through conversion therapy, some who said Dorian helped them survive? Well. Gosh.”
Sadly Gaider doesn’t go into more detail on Dorian’s scrapped pet monkey, though he does explain how the character’s design was a collaboration between the art and writing teams, when often it’s hard for both teams to work together equally.
Dorian’s character brief was “Rock Star Mage”, which resulted in a design Gaider noted beared a striking resemblance to Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Perhaps that also influenced the decisions behind Dorian’s sexuality.
Me: “He looks kind of like… Freddie Mercury?”
Him: “Is that bad?”
Me: “NO ARE YOU KIDDING THIS IS AMAZING”
Plus there was a monkey. Sadly, we had to lose the monkey.
There were iterations to come, but this was really where Dorian was born: Tevinter mage, noble, savant, and too cool for school.— David Gaider (@davidgaider.bsky.social) 27 November 2024 at 03:29
In a previous thread, Gaider revealed it was originally planned for players to import their Grey Warden hero from Origins into Dragon Age: Inquisition, though he admitted “honouring previous game choices” is “a sucker’s game”.
Gaider, incidentally, did not work on The Veilguard. Its directors Corinne Busche and John Epler discussed its development on the My Perfect Console podcast and how its original focus was diluted by chasing industry trends, before EA supported their decision to return to the series’ roots.