“ | I’m not married, because I can’t stomach the idea of marrying a woman inferior to me in mind and spirit. It would mean the death of my soul. | ” |
–Dorian in Throne of Glass |
King Dorian Havilliard II is the first-born son of Georgina Havilliard and the late King Dorian Havilliard I. He is also Hollin Havilliard's elder brother. He is one of the main viewpoint characters of the Throne of Glass series.
Personality and traits
Before meeting Celaena, Dorian was a vain heartbreaker and a puppet of his tyrannical father. He was something of a flirt, but after his time with her, he departed from that lustful lifestyle, even turning down a party invitation from Aedion Ashryver. His true personality started to shine through.
Dorian is very compassionate. His sympathy for others heightens over time, especially after seeing the conditions in Endovier. This compassion, combined with outrage and blossoming courage, pushes him to stand up to his father and many other important officials.
Dorian is also bright, having a curious mind and a love of reading. He is adept at solving problems and will search for the answers to questions even if no one else can or will help. He also possesses a great deal of loyalty, as he goes out of his way and endangers himself to protect his friends. Similar to Aelin, he enjoys reading books, playing with his many hounds (specifically the puppies), and sword fighting.
Dorian will not hesitate to reveal a harsh, ruthless side to anyone who threaten him or attempt to make any risky moves on him, no matter how gentle and free-spirited he may be. He's also the type of person that won't put up with other people's troubles if it hurts him or others. As a result, a lot of the times Dorian puts people in their place anytime he has to, whether it's Chaol, Manon, or even Aelin, as evidenced throughout the series.
Physical description
Dorian is tall (6'0) and lean, with raven-black hair. His eyes are a sapphire blue that Celaena describes as "strikingly blue, the color of the waters of the southern countries." Dorian has well-groomed dark eyebrows and is very handsome. After the Wyrdstone collar from around his neck was removed, Dorian has a permanent pale line on his tan neck.[2]
Powers and Abilities
“ | Dorian didn't just have magic - he had raw magic. The rarest, and deadliest kind. Sheer, undiluted power, capable of being shaped into whatever form the wielder desired. | ” |
- Magic: Dorian possesses powerful, raw magical ability. Dorian's magic at first was a mystery because he was the only person who had access to his abilities during the 10 years magic had been taken away. Later it is discovered that Dorian's father, the King of Adarlan, was the person who froze all magic for everyone except his own extended family, so Dorian, like his father, was allowed to use it. He has been observed so far using magically enhanced strength, shielding, creating ice, wind, fire, lie detection, shapeshifting, and magic hands. He also shows the ability to link his magic with others, shown in Queen of Shadows when Aelin pulled from his raw power and later when Yrene Towers fused her power with his in Kingdom of Ash.
- Strength: The first time Dorian uses his enhanced strength is in Crown of Midnight when Dorian punches a wall in rage at his father for not closing down the slave camps. The stone wall splinters under his punch, and a window shatters, leaving shards everywhere but in a circle around him.
- Shield: This is also the first time Dorian uses his shield. Another time Dorian is seen shielding is in the battle against Maeve's armada, and he shields a line of ships.
- Ice: The first time Dorian is seen with ice is in Crown of Midnight before Nehemia awakens his magic. After a night of cold nightmares and worrying about his friends, Dorian wakes and looks down where he was lying and sees a faint outline of ice; when he turns to look at it again, it's gone. Ice has become Dorian's most iconic magical feature. In Heir of Fire, Dorian helps Chaol experiment on how to destroy the clock tower and ultimately free magic. Dorian freezes one tower, freezing the others and freezing the bowl in the middle of them. Later on in Heir of Fire, Dorian exposes his magic to his father by saving Chaol's life from an arrow and tells him to run. Dorian then freezes the throne room, but Dorian's father uses the power of a wyrdkey and overpowers Dorian's magic, turning him into a Valg slave, which uses Dorian's cold magic in horrible ways throughout Queen of Shadows. At the end of the fourth book, Dorian fights Aelin with his ice and is freed from his collar, but not before stabbing Aelin with a dagger made of his own ice. In Empire of Storms, Dorian displays his power at the Battle at Skulls bay by freezing a full-grown Sea Wyvern to death and then shattering it. Also, in Empire of Storms, Dorian is one of the main magic-wielders fighting against the army of Ilken 500 strong. His ice counters Aelin's fire and kills the fleeing Ilken. At the battle at the end of this novel, Dorian fights against the Fae with his ice and other abilities.
- Wind: It is unknown what kinds of magic Dorian used to destroy the iconic Glass Castle at the end of Queen of Shadows, but it is assumed that he used wind. In Empire of Storms, when the court is at Skulls Bay, Dorian awakens, and a breeze flutters into the room as his magic awakens; this shows that Dorian has wind power.
- Fire: Dorian's use of fire is seen first in Empire of Storms. It is a new power of his, and it's first seen when Dorian walks into Manon's bedroom under their ship. She thinks he is walking in holding a candle but then realizes that Dorian is creating the fire for himself, and it is encasing his hand without burning him. Later on, in the battle against Maeve's armada, Dorian fights with ice and fire against the soldiers. In Kingdom of Ash, Dorian turns his body into pure fire, completely melting a wyvern as it attempted to swoop down and eat him during the skirmish between the Ironteeth and Crochan witches.
- Lie Detection: This is also a power of Dorian's that is briefly mentioned first in Empire of Storms. After the bloodhound tells Manon about her Thirteen, Dorian comes into Manon's room and tells her that he sensed the lie. Several other times Dorian mentions sensing a lie however it is unknown if this is his magic or the magic of Damaris, the Sword of Truth, he carries. This is seen later in Kingdom of Ash when Manon states she did not lead the Ironteeth to the Crochans. Dorian, through Damaris, knew this was a lie. Damaris feels colder when hearing the lie, and warmer with the truth.
- Magic Hands: At first, this ability was introduced in Crown of Midnight directly after the discovered death of Princess Nehemia. Celaena Sardothien is throwing herself at Chaol Westfall in an attempt to kill him, but in a desperate fling, Dorian freezes Celaena with his magical hands that are described as an extension of himself, and he can feel everything that happens to them. In Empire of Storms, these forgotten hands come up again when Manon Blackbeak falls off her wyvern, Abraxos, and Dorian jumps into the water to save her. When he visits her in her room, Dorian flirts with her and teases her with his invisible hands. When Erawan's Bloodhound finds itself in Manon's room after taking Fenrys's form, Dorian snaps its neck with his invisible hands and kills it, preventing it from hurting Manon physically and emotionally.
- Shapeshifting: During Kingdom of Ash Dorian experiments with his shapeshifting abilities. He starts off small, wanting his eyes to turn brown. However, he has difficulty shifting. After a few tries, he succeeds, but the shifting is out of control. After a few days, he has mastered shifting small parts of his body. He can shapeshift into a crow fairly easily and soon masters shapeshifting all of his body at once. Like into a mouse or a woman.
While forging the Lock with Aelin, he uses much of his magic before Aelin sends him back to their world. Dorian is left with his magic weakened and with a definite bottom.
He can also steal magic, as he does with Maeve and Cyrene.
Relationships
Dorian first met Aelin when they were children, prior to the conquest of Terrasen. His memories of that meeting remained hazy, but he remembered her as a precocious, wild girl, who had asked her older cousin, Aedion Ashryver, to teach Dorian a lesson after he had spilled tea on her.
The two of them develop a bond during the royal tournament, and within this period of time Dorian shares a friendly relationship with her, showering her with numerous gifts: books, sweets, and a pet dog. They even share multiple kisses, although, in the end, Aelin rejects him, believing that they do not have any chances for a future, as Dorian is the Crown Prince of Adarlan.
Afterward, she and Dorian remain close friends. Each cares deeply about the other's safety, and they come to one another for advice.Chaol and Dorian have been best friends since early childhood when Chaol had arrived at Rifthold with his father as the heir of Anielle. However, after Adarlan expanded their territories and the tribes of White Fang Mountains ceased to attack Anielle, Chaol's family was ready to leave back to their home. In order not to leave his best friend and Rifthold, Chaol decided to reject his noble title and was chosen to become the King's Captain of the Guard. Chaol has called Dorian his "best friend" and also said he loved him.
Sorscha had a crush on Dorian for six years, since she came to the Glass Castle, but she was certain that a relationship would never happen. However, Dorian took notice of her when he visited her to have some wounds bound. He recognizes her and asks for her name. When she tends another wound of Dorian's shortly afterward, he asks about her life, then sends a messenger the next day for tell him where her village was so he could mark it on his personal map of Erilea.
Sorscha later discovers that Dorian had magic powers and began helping him learn to control it. A relationship blossomed, and Dorian and Sorscha become lovers. Following the purge at Calaculla, Dorian, concerned for Sorscha's safety, panics and attempts to offer her money and supplies so she can flee, but Sorscha refuses, insisting that they stay together. Chaol and Aedion work on an escape plan for Dorian and Sorscha so they can leave the King behind together.
Eventually, Sorscha is revealed to have leaked information about the king to the rebels. Dorian attempts to bargain with the king for his lover's life, but the king callously beheads Sorscha, causing Dorian to fly into a fit of rage and grief and unleash his powers.
Dorian has a strained relationship with his father. For a long time, he disagreed with the King of Adarlan's brutality but remained silent so as not to anger him. One of the reasons Dorian yielded to his father was his desire to keep his spoiled brother, Hollin, from being named heir, as he believed Hollin would make a poor or even evil ruler, especially under the instruction of their father.
After the King's Tournament, Dorian begins to display some level of defiance towards his father. This attitude intensifies when Dorian, after a conversation with Nehemia, loses his temper in the council meeting about increasing the number of slaves in Calaculla and angrily tells the council that oppressing the conquered peoples will only spark more rebellions and create more rebel sympathizers. When Dorian learns of Chaol and Aedion's involvement with the rebel movement, he does not inform his father but tells the two men to leave him out of it.
While Dorian works with Sorscha to control his magic, romance blossoms between them - a romance that they must keep secret. After the slaughters at Endovier and Calaculla, Dorian begs Sorscha to leave the palace for fear of what his father will do if he discovers that Sorscha has been helping him, although she refuses to leave him. When the King discovers that Sorscha has been passing information about himself to the rebels, he orders Sorscha to be killed. Dorian screams in protest, and when Sorscha is killed, he loses control of his magic and attacks. The King then enslaves his eldest son with a Wyrdstone collar, which allows a demon to possess Dorian.While Dorian and Georgina's relationship is far less strained than Dorian and the King's, tension still exists between Dorian and his mother. He attends her parties, although he finds them dull. However, he may do this out of decorum rather than actual desire to be with her. Dorian also disapproves of Georgina's spoiling of Hollin, as it feeds into the boy's unpleasant personality. To Dorian's frustration, Georgina pressures him to find a wife, even going so far as to have a list of eligible ladies composed for him. Nevertheless, Georgina appears to care for Dorian, albeit in a rather shallow manner.
Fleetfoot is the pup of one of Dorian's dogs, who escaped and mated with an unknown male to conceive the litter that produced Fleetfoot. Dorian originally plans on painlessly putting the pup down because of her antisocial temperament, but at Celaena's bequest, he promises to spare her life and find her a home. Dorian indeed places the pup in a home by giving her to Celaena as a Yulemas gift. When Celaena goes on her mission to Wendlyn, Dorian vows to look after Fleetfoot until she returns.
Manon, not knowing why she cares, visits Dorian after asking Asterin about love, hinting at a future romance between the two. The two later meet again and continue to tease each other, leading to a romance between them. After a few weeks of teasing, romance, and kissing, Dorian walks into Manon's room. Manon tells Dorian to "finish what he started". It is inferred that "what he started", was a night where they had kissed and Dorian had left saying "I'm not finished with you yet". Following, this, the two have sex.
In Kingdom of Ash, the two travel together for a while, and their relationship grows stronger. Dorian admires Manon and sees her as his equal.
After the battle in Orynth, Manon has learnt to love Dorian in as much of a way as she can manage, and even hints she might marry him later on.Appearances
- The Assassin's Blade ( The Assassin and the Underworld) (first appearance)
- Throne of Glass
- Crown of Midnight
- Heir of Fire
- Queen of Shadows
- Empire of Storms
- Tower of Dawn (mentioned only)
- Kingdom of Ash
Gallery
- See more here
Trivia
- In the original version of Throne of Glass, Dorian's family name was DeHavilliard.
- In the original version of Throne of Glass, Dorian ends up with Celaena.
- Gavin Havilliard is Dorian's hero.
- Dorian breeds dogs.
- Dorian stole a berry pie from the castle kitchens when he was 11, ate the whole thing, and was sick for a day.
- Some characters have remarked that Dorian's room is very untidy; Dorian states that this is because he does not want the servants to move things around, making it difficult for him to find them again.
- Dorian is the masked man that Celaena dances with before Sam gets jealous.
- When he was a young boy, every time Dorian behaved badly, his parents punished him by forcing him to have dance lessons.
- Sarah J. Maas talked on Twitter[3] that probably Dorian and Lucien Vanserra of ACOTAR would be best friends.