Gourry Gabriev is the great grandson or great great grandson of Roudy Gabriev whom Lina met and saved on the island of Mepross. Gourry is said to come off dumber in the anime that the books, although the dumb blond being a man is different. He is said to have taken the Sword of Light to keep his family from arguing over it.

Gourries weak area is two fold, first. He comes off as not so bright. Second, He is the only one of the group who does not use magic. This puts him at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to flying. If you read the Slayers translations at Slayers Universe or QPDiana he is more a man, out of his element. He does not know the ways of magic, history or religion. He is just a guy with a great talent, sword play.

He may or may not be as dumb as he lets on. He does have a literary purpose in the series that is overlooked. In the Greek plays there is the Chorus and in Shakespeare we have a narrator who can fill us in on the information we need to understand the story. With Gourry, all he needs to do is play dumb and Lina will recap or give us a lecture on what we need to know. What we see in the series is a sarcasm that is meant as a match for Lina's at times. He also sums up or simplifies the situation for us, even before the story plays out.

Why Lina and Gourry as a couple? The Slayers couplings are based on their compliment. Zel is happier and even smiles when Amelia is around. Lina has an ego, a very large one too, while Gourry is happy for Lina to have all the ego he would ever want.