Dorian Pavus Thread "He's More Handsome Than A Cockroach"

It's all about the role play. Just because your character starts off a particular way, doesn't mean they can't mellow or adjust their views in the light of experience.

Take my Lavellan, who is a non mage. He started off going to Redcliffe because he had sympathy for the mages rebellion and Fiona had invited him there. Then he discovers the place is being run by a Tevinter Magister, Fiona is behaving weird and has signed up the entire mage rebellion to work for Tevinter, plus there is a shack full of skulls that formerly belonged to the tranquil. Then Dorian, another guy from Tevinter, tells him it is all down to time magic and he wants to help. Now the Chantry and Templars might be bad, but Tevinter is the big evil to his people. They were the lot who destroyed Arlathan and enslaved their entire people. So, his attitude then is only one step removed from the blacksmith with regard to Dorian. He doesn't actually spit on him but he certainly doesn't trust him. Thus he decides better the devil you know and goes off to get the assistance of the Templars.

So to say that their romance started from a low point is an understatement. The only thing that could have made it worse would have been if he allied with the Templars, whereas he conscripted them. However, the first thing that started him on the road to seeing Dorian in a different light was not only when he risked his life to warn them at Haven, but the way he stood up to Cullen and then looked after the dying Roderick. I made a point of thanking him for his help when we got to Skyhold, which was genuine and that was something Dorian appreciated, even if he was a bit miffed about me not trusting him at Redcliffe. I didn't agree with him on everything, certainly not about slavery. I didn't even flirt with him straight away. I started off just building up the relationship as friends and we went from there.

Obviously, it might be different for your Templar and it might be some other words or action that makes him review his previous prejudices but I honestly don't believe that you have to feel bound to any particular action or conversation path in order for their romance to eventually work. It just may take a bit longer. In some ways that is more satisfying because you actually had to work at it.

If you take a particular set of actions and dialogue and it doesn't work out, then clearly it was not meant to be but I think you have to be a pretty awful, ungrateful sort of person for that to be the case.   My Trevelyan mage was a real Circle loyalist, who allied with the Templars and made no particular effort to impress Dorian, because I was aiming to romance Josephine with him, yet still ended up being in the position that he could have romanced Dorian if he had wanted to.

As a footnote, just because you are a Templar it doesn't necessarily mean you will automatically not like or trust a Tevinter mage.   Seeker Lambert of all people worked for a number of years with Magister Urian in Tevinter, having been seconded there by his order, and looked upon the man as a friend, only to discover how much the guy had been playing him when Urian became the Black Divine.   So it is not unheard of for southern Templars to co-operate with Tevinter and thus I would assume not automatic that he is going to mistrust Dorian.

I think with a lot of the things that you can bring up initially with Dorian, like slavery, you have to do a bit of headcanon over how it might resolve itself because the writers don't allow you to bring it up again, or even have the last word on the matter. Dorian makes his final statement about slavery versus poverty and that is it. I do agree, though, that with anyone other than an Trevelyan noble that comment comes across as rather crass and insensitive on Dorian's part. Unfortunately I think the dialogue was written when the Inquisitor was only going to be human and they didn't bother to adjust things when they included the other races. In a way you have to cut him a bit of slack because he probably hasn't encountered Carta dwarves, since he is more likely to have encountered nobles from the Ambassadoria (does the Carta even operate in Tevinter?). He admits he has never encountered Dalish before and doesn't know much about them. In view of relations between Tevinter and the Qun, I don't suppose that Vashoth are that welcome in Tevinter (because their appearance would be against them) and in fact Dorian says his previous experience of qunari was running in the opposite direction (because they were real Qun and attacking). So I tend to assume that for non-human Inquisitors it is a matter of education where Dorian is concerned and he is open minded enough to be willing to learn to see things from their point of view.

Back to your Templar though. Whilst the Templars in Tevinter don't guzzle lyrium and are really a glorified police force, the fact is they do have them. So it is not too much of the stretch to think that Dorian wouldn't find it too difficult to accept him. Also we have the example of Evangeline and Rhys of a Templar who is sincerely devout but also sympathetic towards the mages, who finally falls in love with one. If you have romanced Cass then you will know that when she was a young Seeker she fell in love with a mage and he with her. Then there is the tragic story of Greagoir in WoT2 where it is strongly implied that he was Rhys' father and would have been ready to give up the Order if he had known of Wynne's pregnancy, in order to make a life for his lover and his son. So it is not impossible for a devout Templar/Seeker to love a mage.

At least Dorian does believe in the Maker and he would likely also agree that you need people who can protect the ordinary people from corrupt mages. The only part he wouldn't agree with would be that all mages need locking up. However, not all Templars believe that either. Remember that Malcolm Hawke was allowed to escape by Ser Carver because he knew he could be trusted not to abuse his magic. You are also right in thinking that if ever he went to Tevinter to live with Dorian then he would be a most useful person to have around, as Maevaris discovers if you send some real Templars to help her.

By the way, if you ever get Vivienne as Divine by accident, like I did on one occasion, then you will discover that Dorian finds the whole situation rather amusing because it does seem so much like home, without the blood magic.   I still maintain that for the Chantry to vote in a mage as Divine is absurd given their history, no matter how good her connections are or how much of a loyalist she is.