Technically, there is another possibility Howard didn't get into. A doll animated in a 'neutral' or 'pure' magic environment, that is, an area prepared and enchanted properly for the occasion, would not take on any personality at all. Such a doll would be completely trance-like until it recieves orders from its master. Such dolls are far easier to control with far less concentration required to do so, and, in Tilly's case and others like him, sometimes far more worthwhile than giving the doll a pesudo free will and personality. However, few dollmages bother with forming a pure magic environment. This is not only because forming such an environment is a hassle and fairly hard to do, but also because 'pure' dolls make very lousy guests at parties compared to their personality-laden counterparts, and thus the dollmages have very little excuse for not bringing a date.

Dollmages of either gender aren't well known for having dates.