User blog comment:Skeith9/Heroic Spirits Speculation/@comment-175.143.156.204-20140628040923/@comment-24754018-20140628151733

Based on my vague recollections of the one time I read the book a year ago:

1) True, he isn't really a skilled killer by any stretch, the only people I recall he explicitly killed was that girl, and she killed herself when (if you will forgive me for oversimplifying her circumstances) he dumped her, and Basil, the painter. And maybe the chemist who helped to cover up Basil's murder and the vengeful brother of the dead girl, but that was another suicide and a convenient accident, respectively.

So only a scant few named people died in relation to Dorian, but only one was his direct physical doing.

2) His portrait, if I recall, merely stopped his ageing and transferred all the consequences of his debauchery and corruption onto it, allowing him to remain the appearance of an innocent, youthful and beautiful young man that so charmed Basil and Lord Henry.

Though when he stabbed it at the end, the story cuts to the discovery of a old, hideous corpse with a stab wound alongside a beautiful and unblemished portrait of Dorian Grey. So one could argue that damage to the painting is reflected on the subject, I suppose, but saying he will not die unless it is destroyed may be a bit of a leap, considering his fear of James.

So I can't really take Dorian Grey as a serious candidate, even though I find the idea amusing. I'd certainly pity his master, he would probably rather go out to enjoy the high and low pleasures of the modern world than fight in a war for some magus.

He'd probably be good for a conversation, though I suppose his primary influence, Lord Henry, would be even better, lol.