138846 réponses à ce sujet

[MelissaGT]

Spoiler

Yeah, I figure at least some of Cullen's hardcore haters will be delighted to give him a miserable ending, but I've heard from quite a few people I know who don't care much for him that this ending is too much, he doesn't deserve to fall that low, etc, so I get where you're coming from. You don't even have to like the character to feel that such an ending to his story, after all he's been through, is a little excessive.

 

I've actually been adjusting my canon here and there too, because of some unexpected outcomes I've seen on the DLC. I really hate metagaming and retconning my choices because I always make them with so much deliberation, following not to my personal opinion but what each of my Inquisitors would do in-character, but Cole's outcome in my game made me quite uncomfortable, for instance, and kind of cemented that I'm always going to make the opposite choice now, regardless of how each of my Inquisitors feels about it. It's blatant metagaming, but... alas.

 

In the same vein, I do have at least one playthrough where I did not romance Cullen, kept him on lyrium and planned to disband the Inquisition, but after seeing the outcome for him under those conditions, I'm definitely going back and changing some of my choices for that Inquisitor too. Metagaming or not, I'll be damned if Cullen ends up a beggar in any of my games. :\

 

SPOILER

Spoiler

Wait, what happened to Cole in your game? He ended up with Maryden in mine...

[Lynas]

Spoiler ~

 

Spoiler

In my first playthrough Cole is human and he's with Maryden. In my second play he's spirit and Maryden is dating ZITHER O_o. In my third play he's spirit and Maryden is dating...Krem.... i don't know why i got so many difference lol

[Tishina]

Spoiler ~

 

Spoiler

In my first playthrough Cole is human and he's with Maryden. In my second play he's spirit and Maryden is dating ZITHER O_o. In my third play he's spirit and Maryden is dating...Krem.... i don't know why i got so many difference lol

SPOILER

Spoiler

If he's human, he dates Maryden no matter what, I think. If Cole is spirit but Krem died with the Chargers, I think Maryden dates the one Cole IDs as not-nice, and if Krem is alive, Cole dismisses that guy and hooks her up with someone who'll be nice to her - Krem. Those are the only three options I've seen, though if you didn't complete his quests, I don't think he appears at all

 

My favorite banter overall from the DLC so far is when human-Cole manages to embarrass himself by saying aloud what he's thinking and then remembers he can't make people forget...

[Tishina]

Been pretty busy and haven't been on these boards at all in a while, but the DLC's brought me back, because wow. (Spoilers ahead!)

 

Spoiler

Seriously, spoilers:
http://i.imgur.com/xHQNYHX.png

http://i.imgur.com/xrsGq90.png

 

 

Bonus Not-Really-Spoilery Cullen:

http://i.imgur.com/v0u5kO2.png

 

Shame that some retextures aren't working in Trespasser right now, though.

Gorgeous! The second one is now my desktop background 

spoiler

Spoiler

Sooo, I may not have the same soft spot as everyone else; blow the ceremony, I want mabaris (Cullen is simply a bonus for me, lol!) And btw, the mabari looks far better in your screenshot than most of those I've seen.

[MageTarot]

Greetings, all!

 

Just popped in to say congrats to all fellow Cullenites for....well, you know. 

[riverbanks]

SPOILER

Spoiler

Wait, what happened to Cole in your game? He ended up with Maryden in mine...

 

(Cole spoilers)

(and some ranting, lol)

Spoiler

Yeah, that's what happened in mine too. The whole scene just made me... uncomfortable to watch. It bothered me seeing them together out of nowhere, with no context behind it, with no other difference in behavior patterns for Cole that show the emotional maturity I'd prefer to see in him before he's ready to be undertaking relationships. Yes, maybe Cole's grown a lot in these past two years, but he has nothing else to show for it other than having a girlfriend now, and that just rubs me wrong.

 

Also, I specifically didn't like him with Maryden of all people, too. I'm not completely adverse to Cole dating someone, but her? I still remember her as... not a very nice person from that one war table mission, and I think if Cole had to be dating someone, he could at least have been paired with someone gentler, kinder, more befitting of his character from the pool of minor NPCs - Minaeve, Belinda, Loranil, etc. Imagine Cole and Minaeave instead. That's a ship I can actually see. Minaeve is caring, protective, the kind of person who risks her life to help the abandoned Tranquil in her Circle. Cole would love everything about her. The justification for Cole liking Maryden is like... her songs make people happy. Okay? I recognize the board has made a decision, etc, but I'm just overall not happy with this outcome.

 

And to top it all off, I then ran off to youtube to check what happened to spirit!Cole, and found him hooking up Maryden with Krem instead. That's... adorable. Her personality doesn't fit Cole at all imo, but she fits Krem perfectly! Bard and mercenary, they're both bitchy, they both live the "tavern life"... it's a great match. Krem flirting all blubbery was entirely too cute, they even managed to slip in a joke about him "sitting up on his chair" to watch her better, and... just the thought of Krem getting a girlfriend with a tongue as quick and sharp as his makes me squee. Imagine her following the Chargers wherever they go, becoming an honorary Charger as their official bard, Bull having a dad crisis with his precious son all fancied up with a lady... the whole thing just makes me happy.

 

So in the end it turns out I'm probably gonna have to metagame Cole into becoming more spirit-like in my canon, even though I really didn't want to, even though I genuinely think the human path was the better path for him, even though I don't even know yet how my Inquisitor will justify encouraging this choice when she's otherwise so wary of magic and spirits... just because I really really dislike the final outcome for this path. If I could have both human Cole and Krem/Maryden happening in the same save, that would be my ideal canon, but... :\

[rpgfan321]

Greetings, all!

 

Just popped in to say congrats to all fellow Cullenites for....well, you know. 

 

But my heart goes out to Solamancers because I knew it wasn't gonna end well Solas does mean Pride in elvish after all. What a stubborn ox that egg.

[stop_him]

Been pretty busy and haven't been on these boards at all in a while, but the DLC's brought me back, because wow. (Spoilers ahead!)

 

Spoiler

Seriously, spoilers:
http://i.imgur.com/xHQNYHX.png

http://i.imgur.com/xrsGq90.png

 

 

Bonus Not-Really-Spoilery Cullen:

http://i.imgur.com/v0u5kO2.png

 

Shame that some retextures aren't working in Trespasser right now, though.

Lavellan x Cullen! Greatly Approve.

[rpgfan321]

(Cole spoilers)

(and some ranting, lol)

Spoiler

Yeah, that's what happened in mine too. The whole scene just made me... uncomfortable to watch. It bothered me seeing them together out of nowhere, with no context behind it, with no other difference in behavior patterns for Cole that show the emotional maturity I'd prefer to see in him before he's ready to be undertaking relationships. Yes, maybe Cole's grown a lot in these past two years, but he has nothing else to show for it other than having a girlfriend now, and that just rubs me wrong.

 

Also, I specifically didn't like him with Maryden of all people, too. I'm not completely adverse to Cole dating someone, but her? I still remember her as... not a very nice person from that one war table mission, and I think if Cole had to be dating someone, he could at least have been paired with someone gentler, kinder, more befitting of his character from the pool of minor NPCs - Minaeve, Belinda, Loranil, etc. Imagine Cole and Minaeave instead. That's a ship I can actually see. Minaeve is caring, protective, the kind of person who risks her life to help the abandoned Tranquil in her Circle. Cole would love everything about her. The justification for Cole liking Maryden is like... her songs make people happy. Okay? I recognize the board has made a decision, etc, but I'm just overall not happy with this outcome.

 

And to top it all off, I then ran off to youtube to check what happened to spirit!Cole, and found him hooking up Maryden with Krem instead. That's... adorable. Her personality doesn't fit Cole at all imo, but she fits Krem perfectly! Bard and mercenary, they're both bitchy, they both live the "tavern life"... it's a great match. Krem flirting all blubbery was entirely too cute, they even managed to slip in a joke about him "sitting up on his chair" to watch her better, and... just the thought of Krem getting a girlfriend with a tongue as quick and sharp as his makes me squee. Imagine her following the Chargers wherever they go, becoming an honorary Charger as their official bard, Bull having a dad crisis with his precious son all fancied up with a lady... the whole thing just makes me happy.

 

So in the end it turns out I'm probably gonna have to metagame Cole into becoming more spirit-like in my canon, even though I really didn't want to, even though I genuinely think the human path was the better path for him, even though I don't even know yet how my Inquisitor will justify encouraging this choice when she's otherwise so wary of magic and spirits... just because I really really dislike the final outcome for this path. If I could have both human Cole and Krem/Maryden happening in the same save, that would be my ideal canon, but... :\

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

I made the spirit path for Cole, while the whole scene with Krem and Maryden was adorable and hilarious (there's a funny cameo), the epilogue slide for Spirit Cole did made me feel sad. Because he's gone He goes back to the Fade like he says he will. It just made me sad that he's suddenly gone from the material world. Arrgh, the feels.

[riverbanks]

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

I made the spirit path for Cole, while the whole scene with Krem and Maryden was adorable and hilarious (there's a funny cameo), the epilogue slide for Spirit Cole did made me feel sad. Because he's gone He goes back to the Fade like he says he will. It just made me sad that he's suddenly gone from the material world. Arrgh, the feels.

 

Spoiler

.........oh, damn. I didn't know that. That's definitely not an option, either, I'm not losing Cole like that after the whole emotional rollercoaster he's put me through since Asunder.

 

Ugh. I don't know what to do, then. Maybe keep him human as I wanted, then, and just... not talk to him at all in Trespasser so I don't have to watch that cutscene again.... and pretend Krem ended up with Maryden anyway because they're too cute... and Cole ended up with Minaeve or something. Later on. In a few years. Not right now. Once he's actually emotionally mature and stable enough to be getting girlfriends. Yey more headcanons.

 

*Fury voice* I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.

[Tishina]

Spoiler

.........oh, damn. I didn't know that. That's definitely not an option, either, I'm not losing Cole like that after the whole emotional rollercoaster he's put me through since Asunder.

 

Ugh. I don't know what to do, then. Maybe keep him human as I wanted, then, and just... not talk to him at all in Trespasser so I don't have to watch that cutscene again.... and pretend Krem ended up with Maryden anyway because they're too cute... and Cole ended up with Minaeve or something. Later on. In a few years. Not right now. Once he's actually emotionally mature and stable enough to be getting girlfriends. Yey more headcanons.

 

*Fury voice* I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.

spoiler

Spoiler

I think in this case they may have reacted to reasonable criticisms from groups of people who are differently abled and who fight the perception that they are not competent and have even been barred from entering relationships at times no matter their age. People interpreted him as innocent because he does start as a spirit of compassion and that's probably always going to show in his behavior, but he wasn't actually innocent. He just hadn't been fully human enough to really understand the things he knew about. He's had at least two to three years to learn those things, and I think we have to accept his judgement for whether he's mature enough for a relationship (and there's no indication of how far the relationship had progressed, other than a rather humorous banter that still doesn't say much.)

I thought they were adorable (though her with Krem is cute too) but I also thought it was a little odd that after the war table mission that she was identified as kind and someone who took pleasure in making people happy. He takes that view whether he's spirit or human, so maybe the compassion in him brought out more of that side of her?

[riverbanks]

spoiler

Spoiler

I think in this case they may have reacted to reasonable criticisms from groups of people who are differently abled and who fight the perception that they are not competent and have even been barred from entering relationships at times no matter their age. People interpreted him as innocent because he does start as a spirit of compassion and that's probably always going to show in his behavior, but he wasn't actually innocent. He just hadn't been fully human enough to really understand the things he knew about. He's had at least two to three years to learn those things, and I think we have to accept his judgement for whether he's mature enough for a relationship (and there's no indication of how far the relationship had progressed, other than a rather humorous banter that still doesn't say much.)

I thought they were adorable (though her with Krem is cute too) but I also thought it was a little odd that after the war table mission that she was identified as kind and someone who took pleasure in making people happy. He takes that view whether he's spirit or human, so maybe the compassion in him brought out more of that side of her?

 

Spoiler

I'm aware of the issue with ableism in fandom, but I've always seen it as rooted on the ableism in the text itself, which has been portraying Cole in questionable ways since Asunder, and all through the game itself. I don't think either Gaider or Weekes were successful in portraying the kind of character they wanted to without being incidentally ableist as hell about it, and I don't really accept that the answer to this issue is for Weekes to now just stomp his foot really hard and insist that Cole is actually very mature and fully capable of understanding consent and intimacy, even though he gives us nothing to show for it in the writing itself. WIth any other character that didn't have the history of issues Cole has had in this fandom I would accept "let the character decide," but for this one in specific I think a romance subplot was the wrong way to approach the matter.

 

That's not even to mention that the entire notion of using a romance subplot as a way of signalling Cole's growing humanity rubs me all the wrong ways, in and of itself, so there was no way this was going to make me happy, regardless of who Cole was with (though yes, him being with Maryden "Inquisitor please kill this girl I went to bard school with for reasons" makes it even worse). This indirect implication that your level of humanity is necessarily expressed through the presence or absence of a romantic relationship is... very uncomfortable to me.

 

In any case, that's just my personal view of it, and it's why I'm agonizing over what to do with my canon, but that doesn't mean everyone must feel the same. I've seen a lot of people happy with this outcome, who like the pairing and accept the idea of Cole in a relationship at this point of the story, and that's great. I can't bring myself to dig Cole in a relationship at this time, and certainly not that pairing like... ever (a nOTP is a nOTP, you can't help it), but ah well. It's a very, very minor notch on an otherwise very fulfilling DLC, where I got a lot of great interactions with everyone. I can live with a few more headcanon handwaves if I must.

[skylark]

Spoiler

I'm aware of the issue with ableism in fandom, but I've always seen it as rooted on the ableism in the text itself, which has been portraying Cole in questionable ways since Asunder, and all through the game itself. I don't think either Gaider or Weekes were successful in portraying the kind of character they wanted to without being incidentally ableist as hell about it, and I don't really accept that the answer to this issue is for Weekes to now just stomp his foot really hard and insist that Cole is actually very mature and fully capable of understanding consent and intimacy, even though he gives us nothing to show for it in the writing itself. WIth any other character that didn't have the history of issues Cole has had in this fandom I would accept "let the character decide," but for this one in specific I think a romance subplot was the wrong way to approach the matter.

 

That's not even to mention that the entire notion of using a romance subplot as a way of signalling Cole's growing humanity rubs me all the wrong ways, in and of itself, so there was no way this was going to make me happy, regardless of who Cole was with (though yes, him being with Maryden "Inquisitor please kill this girl I went to bard school with for reasons" makes it even worse). This indirect implication that your level of humanity is necessarily expressed through the presence or absence of a romantic relationship is... very uncomfortable to me.

 

In any case, that's just my personal view of it, and it's why I'm agonizing over what to do with my canon, but that doesn't mean everyone must feel the same. I've seen a lot of people happy with this outcome, who like the pairing and accept the idea of Cole in a relationship at this point of the story, and that's great. I can't bring myself to dig Cole in a relationship at this time, and certainly not that pairing like... ever (a nOTP is a nOTP, you can't help it), but ah well. It's a very, very minor notch on an otherwise very fulfilling DLC, where I got a lot of great interactions with everyone. I can live with a few more headcanon handwaves if I must.

 

Spoiler

I've never read the books so I can only go on what I've been shown in the games. I decided to go the more human route as well. Mind you I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with anyone because I've yet to really form an opinion on this but I certainly understand where you're both coming from. I don't think HCole's cutscene or his slide was very specific about the extent of their relationship. But, (thinking out loud here so to speak) if you really hate the idea of his relationship with Maryden on the basis that not enough time has passed for him to mature to that level I think I have two ways of looking at this (that I can come up with right now.)

 

You could say that HCole is actually not very mature still at this point and that he was internally pressured [either by societal standards or of his own new human feelings] to take this step. And then that more depends on what you think Cole's view of humanity is- what does he see as being important, in being human? That's not saying that Cole believes you need to be in a relationship to be a 'successful human.' But with all the love blossoming around Skyhold, maybe he just wanted to see what it was all about? And saw something in Maryden that others didn't? I mean the relationship could totally just bust and Cole would learn from the experience. There's no saying the relationship lasted. Or it could be that through the relationship he learns it isn't something he even wants, platonic or otherwise.

 

Or. Maybe Cole has matured somewhat and the relationship is in it's budding stages. A peck on the cheek? Perhaps HCole is overly protective/respectful of boundaries and would take things extremely slow?

 

Honestly that was probably just me rambling to try and convince MYSELF of a logical outcome. I admit the relationship thing was something I definitely did not expect and I'm still not sure how to feel about it. Though the idea of Krem+Maryden is much more appealing.

[riverbanks]

Spoiler

I've never read the books so I can only go on what I've been shown in the games. I decided to go the more human route as well. Mind you I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with anyone because I've yet to really form an opinion on this but I certainly understand where you're both coming from. I don't think HCole's cutscene or his slide was very specific about the extent of their relationship. But, (thinking out loud here so to speak) if you really hate the idea of his relationship with Maryden on the basis that not enough time has passed for him to mature to that level I think I have two ways of looking at this (that I can come up with right now.)

 

You could say that HCole is actually not very mature still at this point and that he was internally pressured [either by societal standards or of his own new human feelings] to take this step. And then that more depends on what you think Cole's view of humanity is- what does he see as being important, in being human? That's not saying that Cole believes you need to be in a relationship to be a 'successful human.' But with all the love blossoming around Skyhold, maybe he just wanted to see what it was all about? And saw something in Maryden that others didn't? I mean the relationship could totally just bust and Cole would learn from the experience. There's no saying the relationship lasted. Or it could be that through the relationship he learns it isn't something he even wants, platonic or otherwise.

 

Or. Maybe Cole has matured somewhat and the relationship is in it's budding stages. A peck on the cheek? Perhaps HCole is overly protective/respectful of boundaries and would take things extremely slow?

 

Honestly that was probably just me rambling to try and convince MYSELF of a logical outcome. I admit the relationship thing was something I definitely did not expect and I'm still not sure how to feel about it. Though the idea of Krem+Maryden is much more appealing.

 

Spoiler

To be clear, my issue is not that two years isn't enough time for Cole to reach the level of emotional maturity I would personally be comfortable with to see him in a relationship. It's that, once again, this character evolution happened entirely offscreen, and I'm supposed to just take it at face value. I don't like radical offscreen growth for any character - I feel cheated out of decent writing when an author handwaves important character development into "it happened while you weren't looking," and I find it hard to reconcile such different versions of the same character back into one when I can't even tell how they went from Point A to Point B. That's my whole issue with most of Cullen's development between DA2 and DAI happening offscreen and the text just asking us to accept that this is where he's at now, don't ask too many questions, too.

 

It doesn't always happen like that, though - I thought Luke did a great job of showing how Sera has grown over the past two years without handwaving sudden radical changes into the timeskip. She's in the process of growing up and getting a hold of herself, she's done progress and it shows, but she's not done yet. She didn't just show up a brand new Sera two years later. This is what I mean - if you're gonna change a charater, show them changing, make me believe in this change; don't just give me the finished product and tell me it happened at some point when I wasn't there to see it. (and for what it's worth it, I think Luke did a much better job at showing a very clear picture of cognitive disorder in Sera without falling into the ableist traps Gaider and Weekes unfortunately stumbled into with Cole - the scene when Sera reads her proposal from a draft was really well done, for instance)

 

Anwyay! You have very interesting ideas for making sense of this development with Cole, and I agree with a lot of the theories you suggest. But honestly, I'm not even going to bother trying to make sense of this - since it's damned if I do and damned if I don't, I think in the end I'm really just gonna leave Cole human as he was in my game and headcanon the hell out of Krem/Maryden happening anyway. I can't achieve my preferred outcome in the canon source, but when has that ever stopped me before?

[Shienis]

(Cole spoilers)

(and some ranting, lol)

Spoiler

Yeah, that's what happened in mine too. The whole scene just made me... uncomfortable to watch. It bothered me seeing them together out of nowhere, with no context behind it, with no other difference in behavior patterns for Cole that show the emotional maturity I'd prefer to see in him before he's ready to be undertaking relationships. Yes, maybe Cole's grown a lot in these past two years, but he has nothing else to show for it other than having a girlfriend now, and that just rubs me wrong.

 

Also, I specifically didn't like him with Maryden of all people, too. I'm not completely adverse to Cole dating someone, but her? I still remember her as... not a very nice person from that one war table mission, and I think if Cole had to be dating someone, he could at least have been paired with someone gentler, kinder, more befitting of his character from the pool of minor NPCs - Minaeve, Belinda, Loranil, etc. Imagine Cole and Minaeave instead. That's a ship I can actually see. Minaeve is caring, protective, the kind of person who risks her life to help the abandoned Tranquil in her Circle. Cole would love everything about her. The justification for Cole liking Maryden is like... her songs make people happy. Okay? I recognize the board has made a decision, etc, but I'm just overall not happy with this outcome.

 

And to top it all off, I then ran off to youtube to check what happened to spirit!Cole, and found him hooking up Maryden with Krem instead. That's... adorable. Her personality doesn't fit Cole at all imo, but she fits Krem perfectly! Bard and mercenary, they're both bitchy, they both live the "tavern life"... it's a great match. Krem flirting all blubbery was entirely too cute, they even managed to slip in a joke about him "sitting up on his chair" to watch her better, and... just the thought of Krem getting a girlfriend with a tongue as quick and sharp as his makes me squee. Imagine her following the Chargers wherever they go, becoming an honorary Charger as their official bard, Bull having a dad crisis with his precious son all fancied up with a lady... the whole thing just makes me happy.

 

So in the end it turns out I'm probably gonna have to metagame Cole into becoming more spirit-like in my canon, even though I really didn't want to, even though I genuinely think the human path was the better path for him, even though I don't even know yet how my Inquisitor will justify encouraging this choice when she's otherwise so wary of magic and spirits... just because I really really dislike the final outcome for this path. If I could have both human Cole and Krem/Maryden happening in the same save, that would be my ideal canon, but... :\

(spoiler-ish)

Spoiler

Minaeve can be dead, maybe that's one of the reasons why they didn't choose her?

She died in my current playthrough, because I wasn't fast enough. Fcking Venatori.

[thats1evildude]

I don't have any problem with Human Cole ...

 

Spoiler

... ending up with Maryden. I find it kind of telling that if he's Human or Spirit, Cole is focused on the bard. That just sort of makes me think "Ah, he was drawn to her no matter what."

 

Sure, he wasn't interested in romance throughout the game, but he was more spirit than human for the majority of it. Towards the end, he was starting to come around to the idea; I remember him mentioning how some people were drinking in bed, and how he might be ready to join them some day. Just not yet.

 

I remember what Solas had to say on spirits possessing bodies. "They often indulge in feelings they never before experienced."

[Fryea Valkyrie]

I love Cullen! He is by far one of my favorite romances and characters!

 

I'm just kind of sad my Inquisitor won't get her happy ending at all with her beloved Cullen thanks to the DLC no longer being for the older gen.

[Rappeldrache]

Is there a link to where you can see ALL the possible Cullen endings - screens?

[Jeniva]

trespasser spoilers are coming 

Spoiler

I played my solavellan first, and found out accidentally that cullen will propose to a romance. So naturally I went on my cullen mancer. Ok the whole marriage thing was cute but at the same time made me a bit sick with the cheese. the tone of voice they say things to each other when theyre getting married as just URGHHHH. but at the same time I'm glad they got married, it would make sense for cullen to propose. I mean he was with the woman a long long time.

[skylark]

Spoiler

To be clear, my issue is not that two years isn't enough time for Cole to reach the level of emotional maturity I would personally be comfortable with to see him in a relationship. It's that, once again, this character evolution happened entirely offscreen, and I'm supposed to just take it at face value. I don't like radical offscreen growth for any character - I feel cheated out of decent writing when an author handwaves important character development into "it happened while you weren't looking," and I find it hard to reconcile such different versions of the same character back into one when I can't even tell how they went from Point A to Point B. That's my whole issue with most of Cullen's development between DA2 and DAI happening offscreen and the text just asking us to accept that this is where he's at now, don't ask too many questions, too.

It doesn't always happen like that, though - I thought Luke did a great job of showing how Sera has grown over the past two years without handwaving sudden radical changes into the timeskip. She's in the process of growing up and getting a hold of herself, she's done progress and it shows, but she's not done yet. She didn't just show up a brand new Sera two years later. This is what I mean - if you're gonna change a charater, show them changing, make me believe in this change; don't just give me the finished product and tell me it happened at some point when I wasn't there to see it. (and for what it's worth it, I think Luke did a much better job at showing a very clear picture of cognitive disorder in Sera without falling into the ableist traps Gaider and Weekes unfortunately stumbled into with Cole - the scene when Sera reads her proposal from a draft was really well done, for instance)

Anwyay! You have very interesting ideas for making sense of this development with Cole, and I agree with a lot of the theories you suggest. But honestly, I'm not even going to bother trying to make sense of this - since it's damned if I do and damned if I don't, I think in the end I'm really just gonna leave Cole human as he was in my game and headcanon the hell out of Krem/Maryden happening anyway. I can't achieve my preferred outcome in the canon source, but when has that ever stopped me before?

Ah, I understand. I've never been a fan of time skips period. Every time I see the "(x) years later" sub on anything I produce this overdrawn groan lol. And part of the reason why is certainly because of inevitable off screen character development. But to be fair i understand it was probably necesary in this case. But maybe that's why I don't know what the make of Cole's, because unfortunately I haven't gotten to DA2 yet. So I've yet to see Cullen's dramatic change. Well I guess there's still a huge shift if you look at him from origins to Inquisition but it's a much larger span of years to consider so it's not as unreasonable. But in any case I understand your feelings. :\

[riverbanks]

Is there a link to where you can see ALL the possible Cullen endings - screens?

 

Spoiler

 

Romanced, disbanded:

http://i.imgur.com/18d08JJ.png

http://i.imgur.com/aV3BM5g.png

http://i.imgur.com/e9dcHDE.png

 

Romanced, peacekeeping:

http://i.imgur.com/VWqR62k.png

http://i.imgur.com/0bSIxyz.png

http://i.imgur.com/e9dcHDE.png (same as 3rd above)

 

Unromanced, disbanded, not on lyrium:

http://i.imgur.com/MJNxl5X.png

http://i.imgur.com/FxTAUcc.png

http://i.imgur.com/Z53ZcFG.png

http://i.imgur.com/tgjSnMI.png

 

I don't have the slides for Unromanced + Peacekeeping + No lyrium, but only the text is different, the artwork is the same as above. Edit: that was incorrect.

 

Unromanced, peacekeeping, not on lyrium:

http://i.imgur.com/gdILKtr.png

http://i.imgur.com/jZEQkl4.png

http://i.imgur.com/YIPj6ob.png

http://i.imgur.com/yqAHkiS.png

 

Unromanced, kept on lyrium:

http://i.imgur.com/xHoDeoT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rlRLkfy.jpg

 

^ I don't have these ones with captions, sorry, but they say he disappeared and wasn't heard from for a while, until a year later Harding found him begging on the streets of Val Chevin. (I also haven't found confirmation that this is dependant on the Inquisition disbanding or whether you always get this ending if he stays on lyrium and unromanced, so if anyone can answer that, please confirm/deny?)

[MelissaGT]

(Cole spoilers)

(and some ranting, lol)

Spoiler

Yeah, that's what happened in mine too. The whole scene just made me... uncomfortable to watch. It bothered me seeing them together out of nowhere, with no context behind it, with no other difference in behavior patterns for Cole that show the emotional maturity I'd prefer to see in him before he's ready to be undertaking relationships. Yes, maybe Cole's grown a lot in these past two years, but he has nothing else to show for it other than having a girlfriend now, and that just rubs me wrong.

 

Also, I specifically didn't like him with Maryden of all people, too. I'm not completely adverse to Cole dating someone, but her? I still remember her as... not a very nice person from that one war table mission, and I think if Cole had to be dating someone, he could at least have been paired with someone gentler, kinder, more befitting of his character from the pool of minor NPCs - Minaeve, Belinda, Loranil, etc. Imagine Cole and Minaeave instead. That's a ship I can actually see. Minaeve is caring, protective, the kind of person who risks her life to help the abandoned Tranquil in her Circle. Cole would love everything about her. The justification for Cole liking Maryden is like... her songs make people happy. Okay? I recognize the board has made a decision, etc, but I'm just overall not happy with this outcome.

 

And to top it all off, I then ran off to youtube to check what happened to spirit!Cole, and found him hooking up Maryden with Krem instead. That's... adorable. Her personality doesn't fit Cole at all imo, but she fits Krem perfectly! Bard and mercenary, they're both bitchy, they both live the "tavern life"... it's a great match. Krem flirting all blubbery was entirely too cute, they even managed to slip in a joke about him "sitting up on his chair" to watch her better, and... just the thought of Krem getting a girlfriend with a tongue as quick and sharp as his makes me squee. Imagine her following the Chargers wherever they go, becoming an honorary Charger as their official bard, Bull having a dad crisis with his precious son all fancied up with a lady... the whole thing just makes me happy.

 

So in the end it turns out I'm probably gonna have to metagame Cole into becoming more spirit-like in my canon, even though I really didn't want to, even though I genuinely think the human path was the better path for him, even though I don't even know yet how my Inquisitor will justify encouraging this choice when she's otherwise so wary of magic and spirits... just because I really really dislike the final outcome for this path. If I could have both human Cole and Krem/Maryden happening in the same save, that would be my ideal canon, but... :\

 

SPOILER

Spoiler

Ah, I gotcha. Honestly I really didn't feel that invested in Cole's character (and I didn't enjoy Asunder) so I suppose it didn't really bother me that much. Maybe if I had taken him out more, but he was a benchwarmer in Rhiannon's playthrough. I'm going to try taking him with Theo a bit more.

 

Do you know what happens to a Spirit Cole when Krem is dead?

[riverbanks]

SPOILER

Spoiler

Ah, I gotcha. Honestly I really didn't feel that invested in Cole's character (and I didn't enjoy Asunder) so I suppose it didn't really bother me that much. Maybe if I had taken him out more, but he was a benchwarmer in Rhiannon's playthrough. I'm going to try taking him with Theo a bit more.

 

Do you know what happens to a Spirit Cole when Krem is dead?

 

Spoiler

Apparently he just hooks Maryden up with that first bard who hits on her in the Krem scene, and later disappears back into the Fade in the epilogue slides, as he does when Krem lives. (just repeating what I've read here in the thread though, I haven't seen this outcome yet)

 

And yeah, I'm pretty invested in Cole, he's my precious son like Krem is Bull's so his fate being unsatisfying no matter what I do bothers me. But, you know, it doesn't really take away from everything else I loved about the DLC, which was... everything else, really. Divine Cassandra was everything I expected, Warden Rainier via friendship path was great, the Adoribull was great, Sera was great... I've been fortunate enough in all my other favorites getting such good endings that I can shrug at Cole's, given how great everything else was.

[riverbanks]

Plus... you know, Cullen.

 

Spoiler

Cullen was everything. Between the mabari, and the proposal, and all the cutscenes when he openly shows affection and intimacy with the Inquisitor in front of everyone else, and his romanced ending, and what he does in his non-romanced ending, I couldn't have asked for better closure to my game. I'm gonna be beaming about it for weeks. 

[FFZero]

Mild Trespasser spoilers.

 

Spoiler

I’ve been watching Trespasser related vid’s for the past day and I have to say I’m fairly confident Cullen could appear again in the next game. As people who have played it will know the final scene has Cassandra, Leliana, Scout harding and Cullen present alongside the inquisitor but no one else. I’m thinking this may be a subtle way of saying these characters will reappear in future. It makes no sense otherwise. While members of the inner circle may have other responsibilities now they all know what the egg is up to so they should in theory be present at this meeting. I can't see any of them just ignoring it. Ugh the wait until DA4 is going to be torture