aroace-hippo:

Thoughts on Dorian and Slavery and his Problem™

Everyone knows that most of the slaves in (*cough*allofthedas*cough*) tevinter are elves. So, due to this, everyone just assumes that when Dorian talks about slaves he is also talking about elves. People take this further to mean he is racist towards them.

I offer a counterpoint: Dorian is NOT racist. His problem isn’t that he thinks elves/slaves are beneath him. His problem is he thinks that being a slave is just a job that no one wants to do but still gets done. Hell, I’ll even go so far as to say that Dorian respects the slaves because, again, he thinks they are just doing a job no one wants to do. Like prostitution.

I come to the discussion with this proposal due to two major things we know about him. 1) he never, EVER puts down any of the elves he comes into contact with (Solas, Sera, Elf!Inq, etc) and 2) he never switches between the words elves and slaves as if they are one and the same. Yes, Dorian comes off as aloof and callous when elven culture comes around, but that can be chalked up to him being a Rich Boi™ who’s just not used to the idea of not everyone coming from money. He treats everyone the same, in this regard, when it comes to cultural questions. Insensitive? Yes. But degrading? Never seriously. When he degrades its normally in jest or in defense of himself. As for the interchangeable elves/slaves, in game it is almost always other people who bring up the slaves being elves. He doesn’t (at least not to my recollection) see the correlation between the two. Everyone else does and tends to put him on the spot. And then he has to scramble to figure out why they keep bringing up elves. Because, again, Dorian doesn’t see elves as being slaves. He sees slaves as being people. The only elf he does show vitriol to is Gatt but that is 100% due to him being a Qunari, not because he’s an elf.

To reiterate my point: Dorian falls into the common people cliche of romanticising slavery. To him, these people were willing to give up their personhood to survive in such a cruel world. Slaves aren’t captured and tortured into submission. No, they valiantly offer themselves in an effort to protect and provide for those they protect.

This is a thing that happens all the time, irl, in media. I mean, how many times in movies, literature, games, or shows or whatever, do we get all emotional and supportive to the protag who offers themselves to be used, in order to protect someone or someones? Hell, it’s a common trope within this fandom. We hate to see someone become a slave, but there’s also something heroic and awe-inspiring about it if it is done willingly.

Dorian has fallen for that ideal. He doesn’t see the brutality of it because he doesn’t think to look for it. Why should he? In his mind, most of the slaves are valiantly trying to survive, either for themselves or for others. I mean, listen to how confused he gets when the topic of slavery comes around and the inquisitor (or others) tell him how wrong it is. He doesn’t see it as dehumanizing like we do. He’s too blinded by the romantic side of it. Again, look at his dialogue. He only ever talks about slavery as if it is a mean to picking oneself up after being knocked down. A means of temporarily regathering yourself to eventually move up. He actually thought that slaves could eventually pay their way out of slavery.

So… No, I don’t think Dorian is racist. He might come off as one, but that’s just because we are the ones construing his words. If Dorian were racist, he would not try so hard to strike up conversations with every non-human in this game. And he definitely wouldn’t reflect on himself and try to better himself based on outsider observations. Racists are racist because they don’t see it and/or deny it, not because they know it and thrive in it.

Tl;dr- Stop saying Dorian is racist when he actively tries his best to correct his skewed views and be mindful of other’s opinions. That’s not racist. That’s an ally in the making.