Dorian Nelson is an antagonist of the Mask of Bimshire, which is the first book of the Offset series. He is a crippled artisan and family man, who lives a double-life as a serial killer known as a Heart Man. After making a bargain with the obeah witch Rachel Pringle, Dorian is forced to repay a debt of 100 hearts in return for the magical right arm he lost.
Design
Dorian is 6 feet 1 inch tall, with rough mahogany-colored skin, rabid eyes, and a short, unkempt afro with equally unkempt facial hair. He was tidier and earnest when he was younger, with a deep fascination with carpentry and woodwork. However, the series of tragedies in his life have stained his features into the wild look he has today. He usually wears a simple white dress shirt, some grey or black slacks and a long apron that he uses while in the shop.
He also has a right arm that has intricate runes inscribed all away to the shoulder. These runes are fashioned from various Nsibidi, Ankara, Pentagrams and other symbols that give it the appearance on intricate combination lock. The runes constantly cycle around his arm, changing between the colors of yellow, blue and even black depending on his abilities. Victims have been said to see his arm glowing blue to match their beating hearts just before death.
Personality
Dorian is a reserved person, who only limited his attention to all things carpentry and woodwork. Aside from an absent mind, Dorian was originally a kind, god-fearing soul eager to help anyone in his community. Money and status do not motivate him, only the need to express himself through the shaping of wood. It was these benevolent features that drew his wife Sheila towards him.
After the tragic loss of his arm, and the eventual debt to the obeah witch, Rachel Pringle, his personality became subdued, desperate and broken. Not sparing many words for his loved ones, and with a deep dread of his creditor Ms. Pringle. During the hunt, he is akin to a wild animal, eager to kill its prey to survive. In a sense, Dorian Nelson and the wild predator are the same. However, he does have a deep remorse for taking lives and has an urgency to clear his debts as soon as possible.
Weapon/ Fighting abilities.
Dorian has no formal training or martial art, but he has a magical arm gives him access to extraordinary abilities based on the color of the tattoos at a particular moment. Blue allows his arm to go through any object as though they are intangible. With the exception of Kyle’s sugarcane, something that shocks Dorian once he made the attempt. Gold makes his arm impervious to attacks, becoming a bastion strong enough to fend off a cutlass strike. Black makes his arm dismantle objects with explosive power. Dorian is able to shift from Blue to Yellow in his arms ability at will, however Black requires the assistance of an amplification. Black also makes his arm very unstable, according to Ms. Pringle his runes become too volatile for the limb to handle. Despite having no combat training, these abilities and his experience in hunting victims, makes him formidable to average opponents.
Cultural references and Allusions.
Dorian Nelson is a Heart Man which is a figure from Caribbean folklore that preys upon unsuspecting victims. The Heart Man is known to steal the hearts of their victims and has often been the subject of nightmares and scary bedtime stories. The colors of Dorian’s magic arm: Blue, Yellow and Black are a reference to the colors of the Barbados flag. These national colors are a nod to Barbadian heritage. Dorian Nelson’s name and missing arm also loosely references Lord Horatio Nelson, a British Naval Officer who had a statue erected in his honor in Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, Barbados. The Nelson statue has since been taken down and replaced by another national monument to separate colonial ties from the island.
