Dragon Age: Inquisition to include Bioware's first "fully gay" male party member

Bioware have spent a lot of time showing off the locales of Dragon Age: Inquisition—likely hoping to reassure us it has more areas than just That Dockside Warehouse from Dragon Age 2. But locations are just one aspect of a Bioware RPG. The other aspect is who you'll be romancing. In a recent profile by Bioware's David Gaider, the studio introduced Dorian, their first "fully gay" male party member and the first gay character the lead writer has written.

"Dorian is gay—he is, in fact, the first fully gay character I've had the opportunity to write," Gaider told the official Dragon Age blog . "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. Dorian's refusal to play along with that façade is seen as stubborn and pointless by his family, which has contributed to his status as a pariah."

As a mage from the Tevinter Imperium, his experience and attitudes are quite different from elsewhere in Thedas—where magic is generally feared. But even within his homeland, Gaider paints Dorian as an outsider. "Dorian is an outcast—by choice," he said, "but only insofar as he chose not to live according to the expectations of his society. There are a lot of aspects to that which I enjoyed exploring."

The awkward phrasing of "fully gay" (which Gaider has since clarified ) aside, it's another step in Bioware's long history of offering a diverse cast of characters. Bioware's first gay party member, Juhani, appeared in Knights of the Old Republic back in 2003. Mass Effect 3's Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez were also exclusively gay, romanceable characters, and previous Mass Effect and Dragon Age games have featured quasi-bisexual characters—attracted to both male or female protagonists.

While it isn't mentioned in Dorian's introduction post, the Dragon Age: Inquisition Facebook page confirms that he will be romanceable. "Dorian will be a love interest for Male Inquisitors," it states, replying to a user comment.

Previously, we saw a round-up of some of the game's other companions as part of the Dragon Age: Inquisition E3 trailer .

Dragon Age: Inquisition is due out October 7th.

Thanks, Eurogamer .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.