Did you get the banter with Bull asking Cass if Cullen would agree to lending him one of the trebuchets? Apparently Krem has been sewing stuffed nugs with wings on his spare time to amuse the soldiers.
Ha, no way, that's awesome! 
I never heard that.
...now I want a plush nug with wings. If only Krem were real, and the Bioware store weren't out of stock on nugs. 
I really need to get a sewing machine one of these days, stuff takes too long to sew by hand.
Of course, I also don't lean toward the idea that there's one "perfect" match for a person (I don't believe in perfection anyway), and that most people can find a very good fit with several personalities. I don't know if that's part of your mindset or not, but I was curious?
Hmmmm. I wouldn't say that, no. Like I said, it's less about the character and more about the overall narrative. In Cullen's case, it's not Ari herself that shoos the others away, it's more their history together and the specific dynamics of their relationship - I constructed a relationship narrative with this character that I was really satisfied with, so other attempts are falling short because they're not hitting the same sweet spot. But they're not a perfect match for each other by any measure, and their story is definitely not a "one and only" one - they've both had other loves before (Cullen/Hawke 5ever<3), and would have again if circumstances turned out sour (like, I really dig Alistair/Anora developing feelings for each other, despite his ~first love~ being my Warden). People move on, doesn't mean the love they shared wasn't true or was worth any less than the next.
Pretty much, I've just lucked out to find one narrative I'm really happy with right away in this game (as opposed to how much fumbling about I did with Hawke, who took a million playthroughs before I settled on a definitive "yes! this is my canon!" run), even if on the other hand that will likely prevent me from taking Cullen for very many rides with other Quizzies. Fortunately I'm also very keen on replaying my favorite character over and over, so I can relive the same story many times still.
Lions aside, I didn't really get any sense of patriotism from Cullen.
There is a conversation you can have with him after the destruction of Haven - if you managed to resist choosing the dialogue option earlier (dat voice 
) - where he does express some feelings along those lines, though they essentially come as a surprise to him. As for the lion helmet.... yeah. First thought when I saw it in promo images was "When did Cullen become Orlesian?" 
As for his supporting of Gaspard... I just chalk that up to a reductionist zero-sum of, we need each advisor to be a mouth piece for the candidate that most resembles their advisor chair, because there's no amount of headcanon I can come up with to rationalize Cullen supporting something like just sitting by and watching the very murder of a head of state that they went there to prevent.
That really bothered me too. There aren't many places where I need to insert headcanon when it comes to Cullen, but that was one.
Ha, no way, that's awesome!
Iron Bull: Cullen's got some of those trebuchets from the siege back at Skyhold. Hey, Seeker, think he'd mind if I borrow one? Just for an hour or two.
Cassandra: Why do you need a trebuchet?
Iron Bull: Krem sews a bit; he made these stuffed nugs with wings. I wanna see how far they can fly...
Cassandra: I... don't think that's an appropriate use of the Inquisition's resources.
Iron Bull: See? This is why you're not in charge of morale.
Yeah, I get that perspective from a theoretical point. I just don't do self-inserts, myself- I roleplay different characters- so I never feel like they're me. All my heroes are just characters, completely fictional people with their own very different lives and quirks and beliefs and morals, and almost none of it is taken from myself. I like to explore the aspect of "someone that you can't be irl," as you mentioned, only to the other spectrum - I can't be a fiercely religious believer, or a shady criminal manipulator, or a rich arrogant noble etc myself, but I can roleplay a character like that. I create them as one would write an original character in a novel, shaping their actions and choices like a story... and that sometimes ends up in the love interest being locked into that one story because it's the one they belong to in my head. Say, Cullen, he doesn't belong to me - he belongs to this specific narrative.
*snip*
I guess the difference for me is that I can try to imagine myself as that person, so most of my girls are self-inserts...to varying degrees of course (obviously I'm not a shady criminal manipulator or rich arrogant noble, ha). I can't be that person (I do live in the real world, lol), but I'm pretty good at picturing what I would do if I was that person. I can RP myself in a lot of situations, though I can never bring myself to play a fiercely religious believer. Doesn't matter what game I play, I just have a hard time with organized religious institutions (The Chantry, The Jedi Order, etc etc). I guess that's why I play as a Sith 9 times out of 10.
Did you get the banter with Bull asking Cass if Cullen would agree to lending him one of the trebuchets? Apparently Krem has been sewing stuffed nugs with wings on his spare time to amuse the soldiers.
No, sadly I get almost no banter out in the world...
Iron Bull: Cullen's got some of those trebuchets from the siege back at Skyhold. Hey, Seeker, think he'd mind if I borrow one? Just for an hour or two.
Cassandra: Why do you need a trebuchet?
Iron Bull: Krem sews a bit; he made these stuffed nugs with wings. I wanna see how far they can fly...
Cassandra: I... don't think that's an appropriate use of the Inquisition's resources.
Iron Bull: See? This is why you're not in charge of morale.
OMG, I got that one too!! I couldn't stop laughing
Did you ever take Bull and Varric? They have some pretty funny banter as well. And, if Varric's health drops low, Bull calls out: "Dwarf on the rocks!"
Bioware does banter so well 
That really bothered me too. There aren't many places where I need to insert headcanon when it comes to Cullen, but that was one.
I actually almost always choose Gaspard, mainly because I tend to lean towards militarily tactical characters. Of course I always finish up with the peace talks operation so Gaspard doesn't invade Ferelden.
That really bothered me too. There aren't many places where I need to insert headcanon when it comes to Cullen, but that was one.
ROFL at 'Check it for bees!' Oh Sera!
Re: Gaspard, that was really my sticking point for Wicked Hearts. I could definitely see the point that Celene was not a brilliant ruler, that Gaspard's claim was fair, and that what Corypheus really wanted was chaos. But I just couldn't RP a scenario where both Alexius and Florianne were so clear that Cory's plan was to kill Celene, and my Inquisitor would ever be willing to just let him have what he apparently wants. It just seemed...bad.
So I can concede that Gaspard may well be the better choice, but under those specific circumstances, I just couldn't rationalise my Quizzy picking him, especially since the only way to get him in is to just stand idly by while a major head of state is murdered. There was more than enough murdering going on at that bloody palace already. (OTOH she now has to live with the guilt that she started the evening as Gaspard's personal guest, and ended by making a decision that got him executed. Sometimes being the IQ sucks.)
I'd prefer having Gaspard rule with Briala behind him, but I tried that once and I felt awful watching Celene get stabbed and die in front of everyone while the Inquisitor just stands there and lets it happen. I can't do it. There are legit reasons for going that route, and Celene isn't a saint I know, but I can't stomach it. I had to go back a save and stop her assassination.
There are appropriate occasions where I would have liked to have seen it:
- Siege of Adamant
- Temple of Dumat
- Arbor Wilds
I can understand him not having it in Haven, since that was a surprise attack.
It probably had to do with hiding his face when he speaks in the cutscenes, rather than appropriateness, which basically only leaves it for Arbor Wilds.
He appears in the Temple of Dumat? Is it the Mage side quest?
*snip*
So I can concede that Gaspard may well be the better choice, but under those specific circumstances, I just couldn't rationalise my Quizzy picking him, especially since the only way to get him in is to just stand idly by while a major head of state is murdered. There was more than enough murdering going on at that bloody palace already. (OTOH she now has to live with the guilt that she started the evening as Gaspard's personal guest, and ended by making a decision that got him executed. Sometimes being the IQ sucks.)
I like to exile him, and keep Celene on the throne. Owing a throne to the Inquisition is not enough to ensure Orlesian loyalty, IMHO. Without having the threat of something else looming over their heads, Orlais might be tempted to turn on the alliance as soon as it suited them. With Gaspard exiled, Celene's throne is still under threat - unless she has the continued support of the Inquisition. Gaspard, although a stronger candidate, is more dangerous to the Inquisition.
Does that make sense? I'm a little beady-eyed and incoherent after only five hours of sleep
I like to exile him, and keep Celene on the throne. Owing a throne to the Inquisition is not enough to ensure Orlesian loyalty, IMHO. Without having the threat of something else looming over their heads, Orlais might be tempted to turn on the alliance as soon as it suited them. With Gaspard exiled, Celene's throne is still under threat - unless she has the continued support of the Inquisition. Gaspard, although a stronger candidate, is more dangerous to the Inquisition.
Does that make sense? I'm a little beady-eyed and incoherent after only five hours of sleep
Yeah that makes sense! I won't lie, I as a player feel more loyalty to Ferelden/Marches than Orlais thanks to the earlier games (and my undying, boundless love for the King of Ferelden and his adorkable cheese-lust), so that factored into my decision as well. Plus, as a Marcher, my IQ felt totally unqualified to be making the decision for all of Orlais, so the status quo held more appeal just because, I don't know, I guess it felt like less of a disruption? I did reconcile her with Briala even though that meant avoiding the 'You kids all play nice or you'll go to bed without dessert!' option, and even though what I've since learned about their backstory in the books makes me squicky about their relationship. Between feeling that the Dalish do have a right to some representation, even in the form of a flawed person like Briala, and metagame knowledge about the endings, it felt like the better call.
All in all it was one of the most frustrating decisions in the game for me, so kudos to Bioware on that.
As for his supporting of Gaspard... I just chalk that up to a reductionist zero-sum of, we need each advisor to be a mouth piece for the candidate that most resembles their advisor chair, because there's no amount of headcanon I can come up with to rationalize Cullen supporting something like just sitting by and watching the very murder of a head of state that they went there to prevent. It sounds like something Leliana might have supported, or even Josephine could have rationalized, but for Cullen to go all, lol maybe we should let the Empress die... I can't. I give up. There's no headcanon for that. I'll just assume he was drunk and annoyed with his pet Cullenites and not thinking straight on the implications of what he was suggesting there.
I agree here. It was pretty shocking to see him be okay with letting someone get assassinated when there were definitely other options to resolve the situation.
Re: self insert characters - I don't necessarily play self inserts, but I don't roleplay too hard on my initial playthroughs either. I just go with what feels natural at first rather than, I've decided to play a BAMF, so I'm going to take all the tough sounding/ more power for me, type choices. Because of that, I feel like my warden is the most "me" character I've played. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I found that not having a voiced PC allowed me to find her voice myself. I could either Interpret the text as exactly what she said, or a variation that made sense to me and have it be the tone that I wanted. While I do really enjoy the protagonists being voiced as well, in that case the character can feel less true to my intention depending on the delivery of the line, or how different the actual line is from the prompt on the dialogue wheel. Both have merit and both are fun though.
Yeah that makes sense! I won't lie, I as a player feel more loyalty to Ferelden/Marches than Orlais thanks to the earlier games (and my undying, boundless love for the King of Ferelden and his adorkable cheese-lust), so that factored into my decision as well. Plus, as a Marcher, my IQ felt totally unqualified to be making the decision for all of Orlais, so the status quo held more appeal just because, I don't know, I guess it felt like less of a disruption? I did reconcile her with Briala even though that meant avoiding the 'You kids all play nice or you'll go to bed without dessert!' option, and even though what I've since learned about their backstory in the books makes me squicky about their relationship. Between feeling that the Dalish do have a right to some representation, even in the form of a flawed person like Briala, and metagame knowledge about the endings, it felt like the better call.
All in all it was one of the most frustrating decisions in the game for me, so kudos to Bioware on that.
It was definitely one of the harder choices in the game Another one that was tough, and made me shake my fist at the monitor was Bull's personal quest. There are two mindsets that I can think of going into that decision:
1. I DON'T want the Qunari to even step ONE foot outside their current territories.
2. This is bigger than international politics, so a powerful military ally is a must. I'll save Thedas first, THEN deal with the Qunari on my doorsteps.
Now, if I want to roleplay #1, I cannot even recruit Bull - which is a loss from a gameplay perspective. Bull is awesome If I recruit Bull, then for the sake of consistency, I must follow #2, and take the equivalent of a kick in the groin emotionally.
It was definitely one of the harder choices in the game
1. I DON'T want the Qunari to even step ONE foot outside their current territories.
2. This is bigger than international politics, so a powerful military ally is a must. I'll save Thedas first, THEN deal with the Qunari on my doorsteps.
Now, if I want to roleplay #1, I cannot even recruit Bull - which is a loss from a gameplay perspective. Bull is awesome
Yeah that's another kicker. Having already been spoiled about how awful the choice was there, I tried to sort of 'decline' his personal quest by saying 'I don't really trust the Qunari Empire', but it makes you go ahead with it anyway.
Guys, how's everyone preparing for February 21st? 
rihouston is going to send another Cullenite package for GE. And we, Cullenites, have until that dealine to send our stuff to her.
I'm still thinking about a theme for my short story. What about you?
It is odd that they decided to give him lion themed armour when they're so symbolic to Orlais. Speaking of which, we never actually see any lions in the game so where did this come from Orlesians? I would have liked to see him wear it in game at least once, but I prefer to think that he's just chosen it because it's badass and effective armour rather than for its ornamentation. I also had the thought that it might have been a gift from Cassandra via the Divine, so maybe that's also a reason he'd choose to wear it.
As for the Excalibur comparison from R2, I'm laughing because in no way did that lion helm make me think of Mordred's creepy mask. Ironically, his masked helm is SO Orleasian feeling, imo.
Guys, how's everyone preparing for February 21st?
rihouston is going to send another Cullenite package for GE. And we, Cullenites, have until that dealine to send our stuff to her.
I'm still thinking about a theme for my short story. What about you?
I'm just doing a card. I'm gonna put the heraldry I made up for 'my' Cullen on the front and then I've done a little chibi pencil sketch of Cullen for the inside, which I'm waffling about whether or not to color. (I think it would look nice in color but I have no colored pencils and I'm never all that pleased with how my coloring comes out in Photoshop, I'm not all that advanced with it so it looks a bit flat and the lines are wobbly from tracing with a mouse. Might try vectors again but I find the fill colors trickier in Inkscape and importing the file into PS leaves me with rough edges.)
I personally like Gaspard but his take on Ferelden is huge minus for me ^^; Sigh otherwise I'd glad pick him over Celene everyday.
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