Seeking to halt what he perceives as the moral decay of his countrymen and the fundamentalist zealotry of his former mentor, he decides to join the Inquisition, believing he could not return without first eliminating the forces corrupting his homeland.

Dorian received a positive reception in Inquisition, with attention drawn to his complex and richly written character, as well as his identities as an openly gay man and person of colour.

[3] He grew frustrated and lost respect for his former mentor, Magister Gereon Alexius, once an influential member of the Magisterium who was in favour of reforming the Imperium, now a zealot who has joined an armed cult of Tevinter nationalist supremacists known as the Venatori.

[4] Gaider further notes that, "it's very little in comparison to the entire rest of the game and thus, considering what it means to those fans who receive that validation almost nowhere else, it's not too much to demand a bit of tolerance and compassion from the portion of the audience for whom this content is not even intended."

It added an interesting dimension to his back story, considering he comes from a place where "perfection" is the face that every mage puts on and anything that smacks of deviancy is shameful and meant to be hidden.

[5] He noted in a 2015 interview that his then-colleagues in BioWare, who themselves identified as heterosexual, went ahead and included same-sex relationships into the optional romance subplots for 2005's Jade Empire.

This inspired him to be bolder about writing openly gay characters and integrating LGBT themes into the main narratives of the video games he would go on to work on.

[5] After he left Bioware in 2016, Gaider wrote and posted a fan fiction story on his Medium account in 2018, which attempts to provide closure about Dorian's handling of his family's matters after his permanent return to the Tevinter Imperium.

[1] According to the character kit published by Bioware's official blog, Dorian wears an ashen mage's cloak which is embellished with the image of a twisting viper.

[9] The Lead Narrative Designer of Inquisition, John Epler, once commented that "Indian would be the closest real world analogue" with regard to Dorian's ethnicity.

[10] The Inquisition will encounter Dorian in two distinctly different scenarios, depending on whether the player decides to recruit the rebel mage faction or the templars to help seal the Breach.

If the Inquisitor chooses to confront Alexius, Dorian will walk in on the war council in Haven, stating he could help the Inquisition's agents infiltrate Castle Redcliffe and outsmart his former mentor.

Unfortunately, once they meet Alexius at the Redcliffe Castle, he pulls out an amulet to attempt to travel back in time before the Inquisitor interfered with the Elder One's ritual at the Temple of Sacred Ashes.

The Inquisitor re-encounters him at the Winter Palace while he is in the middle of a conversation with the Exalted Council's Orlesian representative, Duke Cyril de Montfort.

Dorian explains to the Inquisitor that his father is dead, presumably by assassination, and he is to inherit his seat in the Magisterium, the upper house of the Tevinter Imperial Senate.

Dorian makes a further appearance in Dragon Age: Deception, a comic series which tells the tale of Olivia Pryde, a failed actress turned con artist.

Later, when Olivia and Calix are confronted by one of their angry marks, Dorian uses his authority as a magister to make the problem go away, enabling Ser Aaron and Vaea to recruit them to infiltrate the Qintara mansion.

[15] Justin Davis from IGN rated Dorian's moustache as among the most "glorious" examples in video games, describing it as "classy and refined, but maybe just a tiny bit over-the-top".

He reflected on Dorian's portrayal in Inquisition, where his backstory and dialogue fleshed out the numerous experiences he has had because of his being a gay man, which added significantly to his characterization.

[20] The Advocate's Alley Hector notes that his sexuality wasn't merely a player's option but his identity, with his backstory of running away from home after his family tried to make him straight.

[26] Although Dorian is statistically the least popular romance option for the Inquisitor,[24] several critics have lauded the way the character is depicted within the context of Inquisition's romantic side content.

Rougeau explains that even though he identifies as heterosexual, he saw this as an opportunity to build empathy and role-play a video game protagonist as something other than an avatar for himself, noting that his character has taken on a life of its own.