Dragon Age lead writer shares the heartfelt process of creating Inquisition's Dorian, says his 'story is not MY story, but it's also not far off'

pcgamer.com:

David Gaider, creator of the Dragon Age universe during his time at Bioware (and the lead writer on Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Inquisition) has been on a bit of a tell-all spree lately. Seemingly seized by an unquenchable thirst to show you behind the curtain, Gaider's been revealing truths about the series' cast, such as Morrigan's audition tape, a scrapped cameo for the Grey Warden, and Shale's salvation via an ode to how much he hated bird poo. Dorian brushes a little closer to home for Gaider, though. Character spoilers for his role in Inquisition to follow.

In case you're unfamiliar, while homophobia isn't necessarily a big, institutionalised deal in Thedas, Dorian's father attempted to change his sexuality using blood magic, because he was both gay and also unwilling to supply House Pavus with an heir. While blood magic doesn't exist in the real world, «conversion therapy», a relic of an era where homosexuality was criminalised and pathologized, unfortunately does.

Gaider, who is a gay man himself, led the charge on some of Dragon Age: Origin's bisexual romances, which were a pretty big deal back in 2009. Dorian, however, was his first gay character: «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» Gaider writes, "(as there should be), and it was quite a trip."

He explains that Dorian's initial concept was born out of a set of short character briefs to help the artists design them better. «We stuck to vibes and the *emotions* we wanted the concepts to evoke,» Gaider writes, before explaining that Dorian's elevator pitch was «rock star mage». In a stroke of both tablet pen and genius, Dorian's concept artist turned Freddie Mercury into a mage and gave him a monkey. «Sadly, we had to lose the monkey.» We can't have it all.

His sexuality, however, didn't pop up until a later writer's meeting. Gaider writes that he even «didn't think