How Evil is Dovin?
Lore forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2019, 8:30 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
When Dovin Baan first appeared in the Kaladesh block, he seemed to me to be a person who was obsessed with increasing efficiency and repairing what he regarded as “flaws,” but he did not seem to be especially evil (to use TV Tropes terminology, he was more of a “well-intentioned extremist” or "affably evil" than a true villain).
However, now, in the Guilds of Ravnica block, he definitely seems to be far more evil, with how he is making the Azorius guild far more controlling and behaving nearly tyrannical, so I now am wondering how evil he truly is.
What does everyone else say about this? How evil is Dovin?
Here's the thing: None of the Planeswalkers Bolas uses are necessarily as cartoonishly evil as he is, they're evil with well seeming intentions or relatively easy to understand reasons.
Dovin isn't necessarily evil, but he believes in perfection and order. As such, he takes it to the extreme that all others must follow his order. If it weren't for that, he may justve been a gatewatch guy. But his intentions to have others fall in to his ideal led him to Bolas' team, who would let him force his orders onto others.
January 25, 2019 1:33 a.m.
landofMordor says... #4
I'll add to dbpunk's excellent summary that Baan's experiences on Kaladesh might have led to a shift in his character.
Remember, he was bullied and manipulated by Tezzeret, and it's likely that his once-strong faith in the integrity of Kaladesh's government is shaken to its core. Maybe he used to be a proponent of "benevolent autocracy", but now that he's seen literal revolts in the streets of his beloved home plane (not to mention the disintegration of the Consulate), he's likely become much more dictatorial, which aligns pretty much perfectly with his actions as Grand Arbiter.
January 25, 2019 7:27 a.m.
RicketyEng says... #5
I think he is still just the guy who wants to impose order wherever he goes. Bolas has given him free reign to go to town on a plane just ripe for instilling order. On Kaladesh Dovin also showed how he can easily be swayed by the promise of being given lawful power. Being handed the Azorius is magical Christmas town for him. But even after all of this I agree that he isn't actually evil. I would say he is a very strongly lawful-neutral character.
January 25, 2019 7:41 a.m.
I completely agree with RicketyEng. I feel no evil vibe from him. Ruthless is not necessarily evil. I think he can be a bit tyrannical, but a tyrant more like Vetinari from Discworld rather than Genghiz Khan from our world. Heck, I think Vetinari is who his character is modeled after.
January 25, 2019 10:38 a.m.
Baan is Borg. He is not driven by a desire to hurt others, inflict pain, or any ill intent, but is driven by a desire/need for perfection above all else. Everything can (and should) be sacrificed at the altar of orderly perfection.
January 25, 2019 1:15 p.m.
Another thing to add on to this is that Dovin is pretty human, despite being a Vedalkin. Jace and the gang were fundamental in the uprising on Kaladesh, so maybe he views his take over of the Azorius and helping Bolas as an additional revenge against them.
Icbrgr says... #2
So is he kinda like the bad guy in the newest Tron movie? He is Trying to make the perfect system?
January 24, 2019 10:15 p.m.