Yesss! I have a personal canon but then I also enjoy other options. It's a buffet and I'm loading my plate

It's a growth Halward doesn't experience and can't understand (maybe in death, if you take that gaider short story as canon)

I love that! I think of Halward's kindness coming from a very paternalistic place which Dorian mimicks until he grows into his own and grows past it (even into his 30s, his growth from DAI to DAV).

ALSO i have so many thoughts about Halward Pavus -how he probably encouraged some of those more positive aspects of Dorian's personality, the empathy, the 'progressiveness', kindness. Which is part of why it was SUCH a betrayal when someone he thought of as ultimately 'good' did such an evil thing

also not saying you were saying that bit about him being othered! just realized how that could read, ha. Just working those thoughts out myself as i was writing.

I don't think it's simply a matter of 'because he was gay he was othered which made him develop empathy' but it absolutely contributed to his worldview and personality development. I think he would chafed at the more cruel aspects of Tevinter culture either way, but he had less shelter from it

I think Dorian was probably a sensitive but also incredibly talented, spoiled child. He was told from a young age that he was better than everyone else and he had the magical talent and innate curiosity/academic aptitude to back it up. His defense was offense.

Bull knew from a young age he had to be careful with his strength. Dorian, meanwhile, was a fucking terror.

Remember when #dragonage did Movember and topped it off with an official render of the Iron Bull lifting Dorian dirty dancing style on the back of a slain dragon? I do

To Maryland's trans community: Our state would be incomplete without you. We will continue to defend your rights against the Trump Administration.