vieralynn wrote...
LolaLei wrote...
And his legions of new fans will jump to his defense LOL!
Hopefully, if the DA team write his character properly then he'll be able to explain himself regarding pretty much all those things. Of course, there will always be haters who presume he's some sort of stalker just because 10 + years ago he had a crush on someone lol.
*sigh*
I suspect that no matter how the DA team writes their characters, there will always be people who find reasons to vehemently hate certain characters. Although this isn't the Anders thread, every week someone on tumblr posts about hating how "fun loving" Anders from Awakening turned into "whiny" Anders in DA2, and how even thought they romanced Anders, he "completely ****s Hawke over" by "suddenly blowing up the Chantry for no good reason" after "doing absolutely nothing throughout the whole game to justify his whining about mage freedom."
And I sigh and silently ask myself if I played the same two games as they did. <_<
Which is exactly how I feel every time someone goes off on a "creepy Cullen is creepy" tirade, or when people define everything about Cullen's past, present, and future by misquoting one of his DA2 Act 1 lines and stating that Cullen things "mages aren't people."
Hm. I want to make a list of all of the accusations tossed at Cullen, both the random accusations and the ones that really are issues (such as his bigoted remarks toward the Qunari).
I'm going to start posting my epic analysis of Cullen's characterization in DAO and DA2 (finished making diagrams of all of his dialogue trees for DAO, still working on them for DA2). I can't decide how I want to organize the analysis. I started off by scene but now I'm starting to think I want to organize everything by conceptions and misconceptions that people have about his character (like him stuttering around the girl he likes, which I also thought was a defining characteristic until I took a close look at the script and realized that it isn't).
So, want to make list of accusations, conceptions and misconceptions that people have about Cullen?
Ok, let's compile a list of common and not so common misconceptions to add to your analysis. I'll put the ones I can think of here that I've seen or heard on the forum etc:
"Cullen allowed the rape and torture of Mages to go on within the Gallows, without putting a stop to it or reporting it to Meredith" - Now, this, admittedly does seem dodgy. However, we have no idea whether he was even aware of those incidences occuring within the Gallows, for all we know he may have reported it to Meredith or reprimanded the guilty Templars. Plus, these Mages are unlikely to report their abuse for fear of the reprocussions, so chances are Cullen isn't aware.
"Cullen raped and tortured the Mages" - Well, that's just utter crap. DG has already said that Cullen is the voice of reason in the Templars, if he was a rapist or was torturing the Mages then it would have been indicated in-game and you can bet you arse David Gaider would have told us by now.
"Cullen supported the idea that all the Mage apprentices should be made tranquil for not advancing in their studies fast enough" - Someone actually said this to me in one of the Mage/Templar threads, I've trawled through his dialogue from both games and not once does he ever say this, nor is the suggestion ever made.
"Cullen was the one who sent Lily away to Aeonar" - Again, same guy as above said this. Once again, it never happened, Gregoire was the one who sent her away.
"If you play as the male Mage Warden origin Cullen is horrible about the Mages, he's only nice if you play as a female" - Played it and never heard him say anything horrible about the Mages.
"Cullen stalks the female Mage Warden and stares at the female apprentices" - I think that's a misunderstanding due to those two apprentices in the tower b!tching about him. It's pretty clear one of them is jealous of the interest he shows in our Warden.
"Cullen thinks all Mages aren't human" - Well, not all Mages are human, some are Elves and Kossith LOL! Besides this, at that point he's still hurting from his torture in DA:O, he's not gonna be full of love and compassion for them after seeing his Templar brothers die and being tortured for hell knows how long.
"Cullen only sided with Hawke and disobeyed his superior at the very last minute because he was scared of Hawke" - Again, not true. He clearly voices his reservations from as early as Act 2. He's not gonna just turn against his superior, the woman who gave him a second chance at being a Templar, just because she's acting a little strange, he'd need to be sure within himself that his fears are correct before taking action... Plus, what has he got beyond the Templar Order? Nothing, he's not going to be quick to throw that all away on a whim.
"Cullen turned into a zealot and hurt all the Mages/killed Mages and went on the run in my DA:O epilogue, he shouldn't be Knight-Captain because he's mental" - Those epilogues were retconned, although he probably did start to get a bit "much" at the Circle Tower, which was why he was sent away for a while to get his head straight, and then was sent to Kirkwall to start a clean slate. Should he be Knight-Captain? No, because he's too young and is clearly still suffering emotionally in Act 1, to take on so much responsibility at such a young age has probably put untold amounts of stress on the poor guy.
"Cullen wanted Feynriel to be made tranquil" - No, he never said any such thing. In fact, he voices his concern for Feynriel if you send him to the Gallows as he tells Hawke that he's currently in a coma and is worried for the poor boy.
"Cullen is as bad as Meredith" - Er, clearly not otherwise he would have helped Meredith kill Hawke. Sure, he was in danger of becoming like her, but seeing Meredith allow her paranoia, fears and predjudice rule over her (with a little help from the lyrium idol) I think gave him the wake up call he needed.
.... That's just off the top of my head. I'll look for some more.
Modifié par LolaLei, 30 juin 2012 - 12:17 .
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thanks! I tend to imagine a more takin' care of business!Cullen, but I think this one reflect a bit of the discussion we've been having about him seeking the guidance of a strong woman. Or two. 
