a note on dorian pavus
So look. I unapologetically love the Iron Bull, which is why I romanced him on my current playthrough of DA:I. But even though he’s one of my faves, I’m never going to be able to bring myself to do it again, not because of any objection to the relationship itself, but because romancing him ensures that Dorian ends up alone. And I just. I cannot allow it.
Because, okay. Once you’ve beaten Corypheus, every other person in the Inquisition has some kind of reason beyond the personal for sticking around in the immediate aftermath. Cullen, Josie and Cassandra are its orchestrators and lynchpins, so of course they’re not going anywhere (unless you make Cassandra the next Divine). Blackwall, if he’s still in the party, owes his service and loyalty to either the Inquisition or the Wardens, who are your allies. Cole wants to help people; Sera just straight-up wants to enjoy herself. Varric wants to write a book, but he’s already talking about getting back to his other affairs, and Vivienne (if she’s not Divine) wants to help reorganise the mages. Bull is still on contract with the Chargers, and he wants to stay where the fighting is. Obviously, they all have personal reasons for lingering, too, but those reasons are also materially tied to their other pursuits, and are (unless you’ve romanced them) less to do with the Inquisitor as a person and more to do with what the Inquisition, as an organisation, means to them.
Dorian, if romanced, stays for love of the Inquisitor. If romanced by Bull, he stays to spend time with him.
An unromanced Dorian stays because you’re his friend.
Even though he wants to return to Tevinter and start his reforms – even though he tries to play it off as a joke – he stays because the Inquisitor is his friend, and he doesn’t have so many of those that he’s willing to simply leave. The last person he cared for that much was Felix, and Felix is dead. And even though the Inquisitor is friendly with Dorian, his dialogue in that same conversation reveals that he has otherwise been treated with fear, suspicion and hostility by many in Skyhold. He’s astonished by a servant hugging him. He mentions that the blacksmith used to spit at the sight of him, and only now grudgingly accepts his presence. He’s been disowned by his family, his mentor sided with Corypheus, his best friend dies, and Dorian stays because you’re kind to him. Because you’re his friend; because you inspire him to be strong enough to contemplate returning to a country that hates him in order to try and make it better.
Dorian originally joined the Inquisition because it was the right thing to do, even though it meant going against his country, his upbringing and a man who meant more to him than his own father did. He stays because he doesn’t want to be alone again. And the thought of him eventually going back to a place where he can’t ever hope to find the kind of relationship that he wants, to work alone for reforms he might never see, just breaks my fucking heart.
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