there’s been a lot of great dialogue about dorian’s trust me, imogen, and the choices he made in that scene given the context of his upbringing and the role he was expected to play as a prince. it’s all spot-on: dorian took control of the situation because that was all he knew how to do–the team was a mess, there was no clear plan or direction, and they were seconds away from getting caught. someone had to step in and force the plan forward, and dorian saw himself as the only person in a position to do that. he’s got the mindset of authority, he’s probably had a lot of experience and exposure to what someone of his status is supposed to do when things start to go wrong–there was no other choice he was going to make.
but i want to add an element to this that really just touches on how brilliant dorian is as a character, and how brilliant robbie has been playing him. in order to do that though, we have to take a slight detour into the weeds of game mechanics. specifically, i want to talk a little bit about dorian’s class and how it shapes both the ways robbie plays him, and dorian’s role within the group.
bards are a versatile class. they have a wide variety of spells accessible to them with enormous potential both in and out of conflict. they’re pretty good at just about everything, and they are built to support and round out their party. those of you familiar with campaign one know that scanlan was a bard played more or less to his fullest extent–although he rarely got the HDYWTDT, he was an integral part of their strategy every battle simply because he could do so many things and because he was hyper-aware of what everyone else was doing.
the thing about bards though, is that they are a support class. bards aren’t power-hitters like fighters (whose primary purpose is to inflict as much damage and to take as many hits as they can) and they aren’t glass cannons like sorcerers or rogues (who spend just as much time dealing damage as they do getting the fuck out of the way of it). bards aren’t meant to be the front-liners or the heroes or the battle masters, they aren’t meant to deal the killing blow. between their buffs and their heals and their insane catalogue of spells, bards are built to set up plays for other characters. they are supposed to create opportunities by warping the circumstances of the battle to their party’s advantage. the perfect example of this is in the battle with kevdak in the first campaign, when scanlan manages to decrease the damage of a blow, paralyze the opponent, and inspire a teammate within a turn and a half, thus unleashing a torrent of attacks (with advantage) from his teammates.
dorian is not a great bard. he’s faithful and he’s loyal and he’s done some cool shit, don’t get me wrong. but he’s not a very good bard. he is waaaaaay too willing to get in the way of major attacks, he panics in battle, and he tries too hard to do damage. this is not to say that robbie isn’t doing a good job–he is making dorian a bad bard on purpose. because dorian is trained to be a bad bard. he’s not trained to be a support character. he’s not trained to bide his time on the sidelines for the perfect opening. he’s not trained to set up the killing strike for orym or ashton or imogen. he’s trained to be a prince. he’s literally been trained his entire life to be the main character. he’s trained to do what royalty do, which is to save the day by killing the monster.
which sucks, because that’s not what dorian’s good at, and it’s not even what dorian wants to be doing.
the insane thing about dorian, the thing that makes me want to take robbie and shake him because he’s a fucking genius, is that dorian WANTS to be a really good bard. not because he’s a coward, not because he wants to keep himself out of the line of fire, but because he is motivated and driven by his friends. dorian doesn’t want the glory of winning the battle–he wants to keep his friends alive. he wants to be support, he wants to be their aid. he wants to be the solid ground beneath their feet keeping them steady.
but his training is getting in the way. brontë isn’t supposed to choose the support play. brontë is supposed to be the arthurian knight. brontë is supposed to pull the sword out of the stone and be the new dawn’s light. brontë is supposed to take control of a terrible situation and fix it through brute force.
do you see what i’m getting at, here? dorian’s been struggling with the dichotomy between identity and class this entire campaign. he’s been struggling to be the hero since ExU. and then his friends literally tell him to go for it. be brontë, they tell him. be our leader, they say as they throw him into the fire with six seconds to save the day. given everything, there was no other choice dorian could make. he shut imogen out not just because that’s what he’s been taught to do, but because that’s what his friends asked him to do. they told him to be brontë, and being brontë means throwing his duties as a bard - buffing, healing, support - out the window. no creating opportunities for others, he did what a good leader does: saw his chance and took it.
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theartofmadeline
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