Gourry is portrayed as heroic, having a calm demeanor and a chivalrous attitude that serves as a foil to Lina Inverse's fiery temper tantrums and greedy disposition.

He is also characterized by his lack of intelligence and his tendency to put things bluntly without any tact, occasionally hurting the feelings of others or humiliating Lina without meaning to.

Gourry is first seen when he finds Lina (with Naga the Serpent in Kadokawa Shoten Tsubasa's paperback edition) confronting the surviving members of the Dragon's Fangs gang (she had previously decimated most of their band, killing their leader, and took a fair chunk of their treasure for herself).

However, this lack of a developing relationship is partly because Lina, as an excitable, whimsical but not fully emotionally matured teenager, is not adept at expressing affectionate or romantic feelings.

They get a sort of closure[3] when they share a kiss at the end of the anime series Slayers Next when Gourry came to rescue Lina from the Lord of Nightmares, but they did not remember it afterwards.

Though his intelligence in most every day things is severely lacking, he is an incredible swordsman, performing extremely well against both regular and supernatural foes in the heat of battle.

In the novels, it is also heavily implied that Gourry tends to purposely obfuscate his intelligence most of the time to annoy or tease Lina, as well as deceive others into underestimating him.

In the science fiction themed series Lost Universe, Slayers creator Hajime Kanzaka's another media franchise, Lina and Gourry were mixed to create its male protagonist Kain Blueriver,[17] complete with its version of the Sword of Light, called Psi-Blade.

[21] In a later interview, Hajime Kanzaka would reveal that the original Swordsman of Light was a woman who traveled with a male Golden Dragon, and implied that their relationship was intimate.

Due to his constant exposure and sometimes being the receiving end of many spells, Gourry has developed a rather high toleration to magical attacks and damage in general.

When Phibrizzo released the seal on Sword of Light that withheld its full power, it was capable of firing beams of pure energy as well.

His swordsmanship is downplayed as the series progresses in favor of the magic, but one occasion when he was placed under a spell and turned against his comrades he proved to be nigh unbeatable.

Gourry Gabriev received Animage magazine's Anime Grand Prix awards for the best male hero of 1996 and 1997, placing tenth and eight respectively.

"[25] According to Caitlin Donovan from The Mary Sue, Lina "and her love interest Gourry are a pretty strong reversal of typical shonen gender tropes, as he flat-out states that his only goal in life is to be with her and help her while she does her thing.

"[26] Michael Toole from Anime News Network included the "weird, awkward romance between Lina and Gourry" among the series' high points.

[27] In 2013, Chris Homer from The Fandom Post ranked the relationship between Lina and the "a lovable dumb ox" Gourry as the 35th top pair in all anime.