Cullen Fan Thread FAQ
This FAQ is divided in sections by game. You can skip to the end for a proto FAQ about Cullen in DA:I. SPOILERS!
Dragon Age: Origins
*Who is this Cullen guy I keep hearing about?
Cullen is a Templar whom you first meet in Dragon Age: Origins. Remember that extremely distraught Templar you meet during the Circle of Magi main quest, screaming at you to kill all the mages – even possibly the innocent? In the pink force field cage? Yeah, that was him.
His role here is small, even if you play as a mage yourself, so it is certainly easy to forget in the scope of the entire game.
*Wait, distraught?
Yes. During this time, Uldred and his blood mages revolted and took over the Circle of Magi. During this exchange, Cullen and several other Templars were captured and tortured for weeks - or possibly even months. He was the only one to survive.
*Wait, why is he confessing his infatuation for my Female Mage character?
At the beginning of the mage origin, Cullen is the Templar who was chosen to kill your character should he/she fail their harrowing and become an abomination. If your character happens to be female of either race, he has a crush on her. This can be made very, very, painfully clear if you speak to him. He can be found standing about in a hallway on the upper levels after you complete your harrowing.
It is not possible to have a romance with him despite his obvious feelings – he will literally run away if your character propositions him.
*So, he like, watches the Female Mage Warden sleep?
Probably at some point. A templar’s duty is to constantly watch the mages in their respective towers, which more than likely involves watching the mages as they are sleeping.
*How old is he? Where does he come from? Does he have a last name?
We don’t know, beyond that he is Fereldan. The age his character is given in the Origins Toolset is listed as 24, but those are typically used for voice acting references.
His last name is currently unknown but has been hinted at. We do know Cullen is his actual first name and he has a last name.
*So, he hates mages?
This question may be more complex than you think.
Keep in mind that during his conversation while trapped in the pink bubble of woe, it takes him a few moments to even register that you and your party are even real. The conversation is soon after the deaths of his friends and in the midst of his torment. He blames these mages and believes they should all die for it – even the ones not directly responsible because they might be possessed. This incident is certainly what changed his attitude and view towards magic and mages in general.
During the origin story of the mage warden, a conversation with him will reveal that he initially believed the Templars were too hard on mages and that he hunted down apostates with “a heavy heart.”
Dragon Age II
*Wait! Why is Cullen Knight-Captain of Kirkwall in my game? He went crazy and killed mages!
The epilogue slides in Dragon Age: Origins are nothing more than hearsay and rumor. By Act 1 of Dragon Age II, Cullen has been transferred to the Kirkwall Circle and rose through the ranks to Knight-Captain – which is effectively the second-in-command of the Kirkwall Templars.
*But he became the Knight-Commander in my epilogue!
Cullen is in Dragon Age II and he is the Knight-Captain no matter what you say or do in DA:O. It is the Will of The Maker.
*When I played through Witch Hunt some gossiping mages mentioned he went to Greenfell. How can he be in Kirkwall?
We realize that the timeline does not make much sense at times between the two games, although the DLC does also reference the upcoming events of DA2. Suffice it to say, he eventually ended up in Kirkwall at some point after the end of Origins.
The Greenfell comment - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=ExFZ2g2rcT4
*So he's in DAII and Knight-Captain. Why is he in Kirkwall? How did he become Knight-Captain so quickly?
According to his Codex in DAII, after his ordeal during Uldred’s rebellion:
“After Cullen returned to his duties, it became clear that he would go to any lengths to enforce the Chantry's rule. His zeal troubled Knight-Commander Greagoir, who feared it unwise to let Cullen watch over the men and women he deemed responsible for his torment.
Greagoir sent Cullen to serve under Knight-commander Meredith in Kirkwall, hoping time away would calm him, and Meredith found Cullen's view of mages similar to her own. Of her company, only Cullen had seen mages' potentially terrifying power firsthand, and she believed he could influence the other templars' views. Consequently, Cullen rose quickly through the ranks to become knight-captain and Meredith's second-in-command.”
*Why does he look… So different?
Changes in the art style dictate that the entire game look different from its predecessor. Besides a change in hair and eye color, Cullen’s new look may not be as dramatically different as it may seem.
*I’m a mage/had mage characters in my party casting spells when I first met him. Why didn't he notice?
Cullen is just… really, really oblivious. He is a very rubbish Templar.
In truth, he was initially supposed to react to a mage Hawke and party members. When content was cut, devs forgot to add in responsive dialogue, and thus Cullen comes off as being incredibly oblivious. Also to keep in mind is that the game only had 18 months of development time.
“DG: When we cut that plot I was like "Oh. All right, so...I guess nobody notices..." So I put a couple comments into Meredith's dialogue, she sort of comments "We knew who you were," and in a few other places. I think we should've put something into Cullen's dialogue.
TUK: Poor Cullen. So oblivious.
DG: Jennifer wrote that plot, and afterwards, I forget what it was, someone said "You know, wouldn't Cullen happen to burst onto the scene and you're casting spells, wouldn't he say 'So you're a mage...'" It was too late for us to do anything about it and we decided that Cullen is just very oblivious.” - Thedas UK Interview with David Gaider
*He said that mages “Aren’t people like you and me!” That means he’s a fanatic that hates mages, right?
Keep in mind that this happens in Act 1 of DAII, about a year or so after the events in the Ferelden tower. Cullen is still reeling from the events that transpired there, but ultimately, yes, he does have a much more hardline stance against magic and mages in general. He now takes his duties as a Templar much more seriously.
This is a major part of his identity as a character.
But to clarify more about what he is actually saying here:
He is not saying mages aren't people, he is stating that there is a very large gap between the capabilities and power a mage has over a mundane person. His own example was that a mage can essentially throw a fit, but also burn down the entire village while doing it.
According to David Gaider, he believes Cullen represents the moderate Templar, even the “voice of sanity”.
“And there are things I think can be done with Cullen. I like the idea that he has confronted probably the worst that the mages have, he's encountered the worst of what mages can do. Yet he hasn't done what some Templars have done, like Meredith, or--I keep wanting to call him Knight Divine--Lord Seeker Lambert in the novel, how they have reacted is to become very anti-mage and very judgemental and to paint all the mages in the same basic plot, a few bad apples spoils the bunch. Cullen to me represents another side of Templars which is a side that we need to keep active. Not all Templars are these heartless bastards who would happily torture mages, that's not true, there are Templars who are good people. I think Cullen is a good man who recognizes that there are dangerous in magic, dangers that have to be dealt with, but he doesn't lack for compassion and doesn't try to say "Well, let's take the hard approach and kill everybody and let the Maker sort them out." At the end of DA2 he's the person who sort of tries to put on the brakes, the voice of sanity if you will. I think that's important to represent, so in that respect I like the idea of Cullen reappearing, I like that element of his character, so it's definitely a possibility.” - Thedas UK Interview with David Gaider
*I keep hearing of rapes and horrible acts the Templars commit against the mages in Kirkwall. Why doesn't Cullen do anything about it?
The truth is that we don’t really know what Cullen did or did not do aside from quests Hawke was directly involved with. He may or may not have known about the rapes. He may have known and did nothing about it or did do something about it with unforeseen results.
The end of the day nobody but Word of God knows.
*Was Cullen partaking in these rapes?
Word of God decrees Cullen to be a "good man" and not a "heartless bastard".
"Not all Templars are these heartless bastards who would happily torture mages, that's not true, there are Templars who are good people. I think Cullen is a good man who recognizes that there are dangerous in magic, dangers that have to be dealt with, but he doesn't lack for compassion and doesn't try to say "Well, let's take the hard approach and kill everybody and let the Maker sort them out." - Thedas UK Interview with David Gaider
*He took Bethany away! Why did he do that after I helped him?
Because he is a Templar and that is his job. To play devil’s advocate, he was quite lenient on Hawke and family for harboring an apostate – even going so far as to alert Hawke (albeit via ambient dialogue) that he has been hearing “disturbing rumors” about Bethany and “hope[s] they are not true.”
This line also applies to a mage Hawke, although Hawke is obviously never apprehended for plot reasons.
*Can I murder-knife him?
Nope. Cullen has full on plot shield armor and is in no way killable in the game.
*Why is Cullen standing up to Meredith now, all the way at the end of the game?
Because at this point, the final straw has been broken and he believes she has gone so far as to violate "what the Order stands for".
In an earlier ambient dialogue, he remarks that he no longer knows if he is following Meredith or The Order and they may "no longer be one and the same".
"They may no longer be one and the same.." - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_6Dlh_Ew0EY
"This is not what the Order stands for!" Templar Ending - http://www.youtube.c...9kJC6qM&t=2m10s
"This is not what the Order stands for!" Mage Ending - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7LBEAE0ycY4
In the ensuing battle, he will assist Hawke and party members against Meredith.
*Isn’t it a bit too little, too late?
Yes, it is a little too late to effectively reverse any damage done at this point. However, the mere act of turning against his superior, one whom he greatly respected, is a huge feat within itself.
*I sided with the mages, why did he just let me go?
We don’t know entirely what was going on inside of his head at that moment in time, so it is impossible to determine what exactly let him decide to allow Hawke and companions, including Anders, walk away.
*Why did Cullen agree to the Right of Annulment?
Cullen is a Templar who deferred to the orders of his superior, but he does express his doubt and discomfort at who he currently believes is in the wrong. This includes outright questioning the use of the annulment entirely, comparing it to the Ferelden Circle - which was a much more dire incident than Kirkwall's.
This is further emphasized during a scene which is only available if the Templar side was chosen. At this point in his life, he sees his duty as a Templar to both protect the general populace from mages, but also protect the mages themselves. He even goes so far as to order his subordinates to listen to Hawke over the Knight-Commander herself – to which they comply.
These scenes are only available to those who sided with the Templars and can be easy to miss. They are contained in the links below.
Mages Surrender - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Zgn1CRXLLWg
Ambient Dialogue - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Zm6ExSd5WK4
*Does Cullen have PTSD?
No devs have outright stated that Cullen suffers from PTSD after his ordeal in DA:O. We hear in Witch Hunt a rumor that he was sent to the Greenfell chantry "to level out" and Cullen's DA2 codex mentions that Greagoir sent him to Kirkwall to remove him from a situation where he would have oversight of the very mages who had hurt him during the Uldred rebellion. Patrick Weekes recently pointed us and Cullen's writer to a poignant post by a fan on the possible effects PTSD would have on Cullen and his fitness for leading in DA:I. This is far from a confirmation about Cullen, however, and Weekes also referenced his own efforts at writing a different character that were influenced by soldiers suffering from PTSD.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
*What did Cullen do after the end of DA2? Is he the new Knight-Commander?
This is something else we do not know at the moment. We know that he stayed in Kirkwall for a time restoring order, but not how long or in what capacity he served. So it is possible he became the new Knight-Commander (raising questions as to whether he was at Lambert's Nevarran Accord meeting in 9:40). All we know is that in DA:I, he's a "former knight captain," and that he impressed Cassandra Pentaghast sufficiently in Kirkwall for her to bring him on board the Inquisition.
*Is Cullen a companion in DA:I?
No, he is an adviser to the Inquisition, and therefore an NPC. He is responsible for the military branch of the organization. Although he won't join your party, you may still see him out in the field, if the trailer footage is any indication. His new title is Commander Cullen (see advisors live stream with introduction of advisors-spoilers!), and he leads your forces. Unclear yet whether he is also officially called "general" inside the game, although informally the devs have called him this.
*Is Cullen romanceable?
Yes, despite not being a follower, Cullen is romanceable by female humans and female elves.
*Romanceable only by humans and elves? Why?
The devs have not yet explained this, except that any race-gating would "make sense" and be for "story reasons." Mike Laidlaw said that Cullen was added as a romance only when BW received the year's extension back in 2013. But, he and other devs have said on several occasions that adviser romance content is equivalent to the content or word budget spent on the "core" romances.
We'll have to see how this is implemented in-game before sensitive questions like "is he racist?" can be addressed. He has called dwarves (Oghren, specifically) and qunari (DA2) heathens in the past, suggesting some biases, but on the other hand, our Inquisitor can be any religion they choose to headcanon. Only time will tell.
*Is he a virgin?
This is a question that gets asked A LOT, presumably because of hints in DA:O from Alistair and others that templars are chaste. However, according to David Gaider, "Templars do not take vows of chastity." According to Cullen's DA:I writer, Brianne Battye, we'll just have to ask Cullen "about that sort of thing" in game. 
*Is Cullen still a templar in DA:I?
He is a "former knight captain" and now works for the Inquisition "instead" of the Order, according to his official character profile on the main DA site. He does, however, still wear templar insignia (gauntlets, skirt/tabard sometimes) in some of the game footage that has been released so far. We have yet to learn if there is a story reason for this, or if the templar insignias will remain when the game ships.
*How old is he? Where does he come from? Does he have a last name?
We don’t know his background, but we will apparently learn more in DA:I. The DA:O Toolset, which is only a guideline for voice acting and can sometimes be wrong, says he was 24 in DA:O and that he is Fereldan. Hawke also thinks he sounds Fereldan in DA2. His DA:I model has been described by the devs as intended to look "twenties to thirties," for what that's worth.
His last name is currently unknown. We do know Cullen is his actual first name and he has a last name.
Created by Batteries/Obito for and with the help of the awesome BSN Cullen Thread. Maintained by R2s Muse.
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