I believe I've settled on making my Alin Lavellan a "no romance" (despite the Keep saying he romanced Bull WTF THIS STILL CONFUSES ME
) and headcanoning Solavellan. How many people here headcanoned Cullen x Hawke (Cawke... sorry, I had to); it is doable!
snip
I will NEVER romance Bull and I'd be upset if the Keep said I did. 
I headcanon Cullen and female Hawke 
Yet again... drinking and board reading bad.
My daughter justed asked me what I was laughing at... I told her she wouldn't understand:
Mom, am I too young or will it scar my life?
Since it's Sera I told her the latter. I need to work this in somewhere.
It's not like Inky isn't as filthy-minded as Sera at times... she did after all let it slip to her that Cullen's desk is "definitely sturdy".
I will NEVER romance Bull and I'd be upset if the Keep said I did.
I used a mod to romance Solas and for that the Keep chastised me by saying he romanced Bull Nothing against Bull-mancers; I did romance him but twas not my cup of tea, but truly nothing against him. But yeah
I used a mod to romance Solas and for that the Keep chastised me by saying he romanced Bull
I'm playing my first non human ever, by playing a female elf, romancing Solas. All my PCs have gotten along with Bull but he's someone I like being friends with but I'm not up for a romance with him. I also have never wanted to romance Sera but I love having roof time with her. Actually, my one true romance is Cullen in DAI so for me to be playing a non human AND romancing Solas, is very different (and I'm going to get my heart broken for doing it).
I believe I've settled on making my Alin Lavellan a "no romance" (despite the Keep saying he romanced Bull WTF THIS STILL CONFUSES ME
Yeah. With no romance you can total freedom on headcanoning. You're not restricted by Keep. Good I'm planning to replay my canon Hawke and Inquisitor.
*snort* Cawke
I headcanon Cullen and female Hawke
That's what I'm leaning toward right now. And why I'm thinking about no romance world state as canon.
I used a mod to romance Solas and for that the Keep chastised me by saying he romanced Bull
Whelp, I didn't know that elf was qunari in disguise. But that would explain his fluent Qunlat 
Hey, lady!Hello guys how have you been? Long time no see/talk
Heyhooo! How's everyone been doing lately? Aaaah miss you guys all a lot
Yes, his loving family upbringing is a whole new dimension now, eh? His gruffness toward Mia and poor correspondence skills could be interpreted as him still being more reserved in the physical displays of affection arena. Hard to say.
As you know, I also subscribe to the notion that he was very isolated while in Kirkwall. Young. Fereldan. Precipitously promoted. I headcanon that some of his isolation was also self imposed due to survivor's guilt, from his companion Templars as well as his family. I could plausibly see some of that manifesting itself in terms of physical connection, too.
That sounds so likely. Do you think that he'll also add another layer by not trusting much his colleague? Guess that after the Kinloch Hold it'll be hard for him to bond a friendship with a mage, and he might probably not wanting to bond with other templars due to that... Idk.
Hullo. New here. So happy to see all the Cullen love.
<<sees all the... uh... Cullen love, drops mead glass, dies happy>>
Oh, Maker...!
Welcome!
This piece makes me think of Cullen so much...
Since we still haven't figured out what triggers the Hawke dialogue with Cullen, I've decided to just go ahead and upload/share the updated version of the Restored Cullen Dialogue mod. Here ya go! The dialogue should trigger after Varric has introduced the Inquisitor to Hawke. Let me know if you run into any problems! 
Since we still haven't figured out what triggers the Hawke dialogue with Cullen, I've decided to just go ahead and upload/share the updated version of the Restored Cullen Dialogue mod. Here ya go! The dialogue should trigger after Varric has introduced the Inquisitor to Hawke. Let me know if you run into any problems!
Thank you, font! We wouldn't even know these lines and the unused banter existed if it wasn't for your efforts poking around through the text files, and it's great to be able to hear them in the game now!
Since we still haven't figured out what triggers the Hawke dialogue with Cullen, I've decided to just go ahead and upload/share the updated version of the Restored Cullen Dialogue mod. Here ya go! The dialogue should trigger after Varric has introduced the Inquisitor to Hawke. Let me know if you run into any problems!
You rock! If I ever actually start to mod my game... I look forward to hearing it! 
@R2, i totally agree with your taken on Cullen's isolation. poor guy
Aaaand hi all. Been gone a while. Took huge break from fanfic for reasons and now struggling to get back into writing again. buh....
wish me luck. i need to make tracks to get to the end of Haven.
Yes, his loving family upbringing is a whole new dimension now, eh? His gruffness toward Mia and poor correspondence skills could be interpreted as him still being more reserved in the physical displays of affection arena. Hard to say.
As you know, I also subscribe to the notion that he was very isolated while in Kirkwall. Young. Fereldan. Precipitously promoted. I headcanon that some of his isolation was also self imposed due to survivor's guilt, from his companion Templars as well as his family. I could plausibly see some of that manifesting itself in terms of physical connection, too.
No one should apologize for that in this thread
As for Cullen and Dorian, if you ship them there are plenty of reasons to imagine them being together without the inquisitor xDDD Wish I were back in my fanfic writing hay day (no idea how to spell that) b/c I'd surely whip up a few quick Cullrian fics. Oh well they had to settle for being background couple along with Cassarric in my Solavellan fic.
This piece makes me think of Cullen so much...
That gave me the feels.
It's not like Inky isn't as filthy-minded as Sera at times... she did after all let it slip to her that Cullen's desk is "definitely sturdy".
Tishina, you're right, and this is what I get for writing that late/early. I'm weird that I don't really headcanon things. All my playthroughs are their own canon and unless I'm writing I don't fill in the blanks. As for the blanks, like Cullen's sex life, that varies with the fic, but I honestly don't think about it that much. In the Hawke/Cullen fic I'm writing now, for example, he had a relationship with a girl during training, but she wanted the romance of a knight in shining armor but he wanted a relationship with a person. But that's only for that series. Now that I think about it, I never really considered outside a fic what his experience might or might not be. Weird.
That being said, my thinking about the Templars is less that they're military and more that they're religious in nature. I happily admit that this is colored by personal experience with the Catholic Church so I'm not exactly coming at it from a neutral view. If we were talking about a secular military i'd have a lot easier time seeing a lot of what you're talking about. I have trouble seeing senior Templars taking a junior to the Spoiled Princess to drink off a bad Harrowing. Not saying it couldn't or wouldn't just have trouble picturing it.
In that vein, another funny image: Thrask buying say Huge his first er... drink at the Rose. It's something I can see in regular military (I mean don't Bull and Cole have a banter about that kind of thing?), but with the religious dimension of the Templars not so much. Especially since the employees at the Rose were worried about being closed down for servicing the recruits. But that might just be Meredith's shadow.
He does say that the recruits during training did look out for each other, with the implication he had made at least acquaintances with the other kids there, if not close friendships. And he does outright say he had friends at Kinloch during Perseverance. At the same time, I think it's safe to say that "friend" is not a term he'd throw around lightly, so I don't see him being Mr. Popular, either. I think a good portion of my perception comes from the fact Templars are wearing heavy armor the vast majority of the day. I know there's a lot of protective gear today that would precluding feeling something when someone else touched you, but I can't think of a job that would require that kind of gear for the length of time a Templar would be wearing plate all day, every day. The closest I can come is active duty units today, but even then I can't imagine that a soldier spends his/her entire tour in combat armor.
I've seen a lot of pre DAI fics that put Cullen as an orphan. I never really thought of it one way or another until I read them. I wasn't all that surprised, I suppose, that he had a family. As I said, I really didn't think about it deeply one way or another, but I'm curious what the thinking was at the time.
Last thing, promise and slightly off topic but possibly funny. Guild Wars 2 dropped an expansion Friday with a new character class: the Revenant. They channel the power of the Mists (dimension between worlds, land of the dead, yada yada, and their in game excuse for server vs server combat). They make rifts, that sort of thing. Their advanced spec: the Herald.
When I booted this up last Friday and made one, I was laughing so hard. I'm not making any accusations, just wondering at the potential collective unconscious factor.
TL;DR: Even with sleep I'm a little odd. Hopefully in a good way.
I'm with you, there are certain parts of his background I just don't worry about much unless they really matter to something I'm working out, though I admit I don't personally imagine him taking advantage of the Blooming Rose's other services. I do think about his life in Templars quite a bit because that's shaped a lot of who he is. They don't take a priest's vows, and it's still a military order and would have an army's problems to cope with - discipline, combat stress, training, unit cohesion, morale, etc. The Templars didn't start as a religious order; they were part of the 1st Inquisition who agreed to serve the Chantry as guardians, so this started as a secular military force that agreed to religious service, not religious who took up arms (though we make the line much more distinct now.) But there's definitely room to interpret them as having differences from a regular army. I think cursing of the blasphemous sort would be unacceptable, and at least in theory, they're supposed to be above bribery and corruption. Frequenting the Blooming Rose for anything besides drinking was apparently considered a bit iffy in Kirkwall ...but I think that's mentioned only in relation to the recruits. Recruits are usually under stricter discipline and rules while in training, and Meredith may have made some threat that isn't normal (nor does she actually do anything about the Blooming Rose, does she?)
But I headcannon them as bonding while training together and in their off-duty time in the barracks which is where I've imagined they'd get a new Templar drunk after a failed Harrowing, so it's private. Even if they have semi-private rooms, they're going to have communal dining halls, baths, armories, etc. where they will be out of armor and socializing off duty. And you can hear the door guards at Kinloch Hold gossiping during the mage origin, so they do socialize. Drinking comes across as an ordinary part of life in Dragon Age; think of the bottles in your DAI cellar and the kegs in your closet. Wynne tells Oghren in DAO that the Tranquil were remarkably good brewers and they always had something on the table which presumably included the Templars. There's not much at Kinloch except the mage tower, so we can be pretty certain that the Templars kept the Spoiled Princess in business. Casual drunkenness may or may not be frowned upon, but drunkenness because of mourning, etc. is often considered an exception.
But I think we actually were talking about physical contact 
. I still imagine that Cullen had a certain amount of bonding-type contact simply because it fits my experience with military and sports where team cohesion is important, though I also headcannon that Cullen retreated from most of that after he was tortured and was possibly a bit of a loner even before that. But just because that feels right for me doesn't mean someone else can't interpret it differently.
I'm with you, there are certain parts of his background I just don't worry about much unless they really matter to something I'm working out, though I admit I don't personally imagine him taking advantage of the Blooming Rose's other services. I do think about his life in Templars quite a bit because that's shaped a lot of who he is. They don't take a priest's vows, and it's still a military order and would have an army's problems to cope with - discipline, combat stress, training, unit cohesion, morale, etc. The Templars didn't start as a religious order; they were part of the 1st Inquisition who agreed to serve the Chantry as guardians, so this started as a secular military force that agreed to religious service, not religious who took up arms (though we make the line much more distinct now.) But there's definitely room to interpret them as having differences from a regular army. I think cursing of the blasphemous sort would be unacceptable, and at least in theory, they're supposed to be above bribery and corruption. Frequenting the Blooming Rose for anything besides drinking was apparently considered a bit iffy in Kirkwall
But I headcannon them as bonding while training together and in their off-duty time in the barracks which is where I've imagined they'd get a new Templar drunk after a failed Harrowing, so it's private. Even if they have semi-private rooms, they're going to have communal dining halls, baths, armories, etc. where they will be out of armor and socializing off duty. And you can hear the door guards at Kinloch Hold gossiping during the mage origin, so they do socialize. Drinking comes across as an ordinary part of life in Dragon Age; think of the bottles in your DAI cellar and the kegs in your closet. Wynne tells Oghren in DAO that the Tranquil were remarkably good brewers and they always had something on the table which presumably included the Templars. There's not much at Kinloch except the mage tower, so we can be pretty certain that the Templars kept the Spoiled Princess in business. Casual drunkenness may or may not be frowned upon, but drunkenness because of mourning, etc. is often considered an exception.
But I think we actually were talking about physical contact
No, she doesn't, which strikes me as weird, though there are a LOT of things about Meredith's behavior that strikes me as odd. Such as I doubt even Varric has the pull to keep Meredith from taking Anders if she really wants to. And then there Alrik. How is he even getting access to the brand if he's advocated a position she refused. Advocated it so strongly that he did an end run around her to make the proposal to the Divine. It's not as if she's miss the fact the Tranquil population was expanding. Unless she was either complicit or stupid. A lot of things about her in general tend not to add up. A part of me wonders if they'd had more time, Meredith would have been written as something like Col. Jessup from A Few Good Men. It's something I could see her pulling.
I also wonder how half the people we see at the Rose afford it. A high end brothel like that should be out of reach for someone like Gamlen, but that's another story.
There's a Codex called Templar Order: Traditional Role in DAI which talks about what the Chantry looks for in recruits:
"The Chantry's militant arm looks first for skilled warriors with unshakable faith in the Maker, with a flawless moral compass as a secondary concern."
So that's pretty much colored my thinking.
I have no problem with this at all. In fact I can imagine even if he has little first hand experience, Cullen probably gained a lot of second hand knowledge about sex if only from hearing the other Templars gossip.
Oh I can agree with this. I guess it's the whole "stoic Templar" image that throws off me. It's kind of hard for me to imagine, and then there's the fact that most of these kids seem to have either come to the Templars because they were orphans, or some noble's bastard who happened to be a threat to the succession, or a third or forth child who doesn't have any other purpose. I think people like Cullen are rare. People who actually want to be there rather than being told "this s what you're doing". Of course it's possible that among the kids who came from those other backgrounds there are ones who want to be Templars, but I'd think it's the exception rather than the rule.
I wrote something, basically because I needed context for who he saw die at Kinloch for a story. It's pretty much the last 15-20 minutes before he gets captured. I'll admit it's not very innovative as stories go, but I needed to explain somehow at least a little of what went on in the context of the story arc. I wish we'd gotten short stories about the advisers rather than Samson and Calpernia. It's be nice to have that context if only for game sake rather than trying to fill so many holes.
Especially if it had Mia. I adore her. If I only have one piece of head canon it's that Mia and Cullen play chess by letter. It's the only thing I will say: yes, this is what they do, even if it doesn't show up in the Codex.
I love hearing other people's reasoning about their headcannons, etc.
Yes, Meredith seems inconsistent when it comes to Anders or a mage Hawke. But Alrik, I've kind of assumed was part of what went on that Cullen tells you in DAI that Meredith kept from him. She may have turned down the proposal but turned a blind eye to him turning some mages tranquil because she thought the fear of him would keep other mages in-line and she could rein him in at any time. Or he simply accused them of blood magic to her and she took his word repeatedly?
I know they officially say they're looking for unshakable faith in the Maker, but in practical terms, they mostly take young kids who are forced into the life. Obviously they get a few who wanted to be there - Lysette from Haven seems to be one. I think there's a huge amount of room for interpreting what is and isn't considered "moral" under the Chantry, though. I mean, this is an entire religion based on a god falling in love with a married woman (which has always left me questioning why they defaulted to a celibate priesthood when the origin of the religion has a lot more in common with some classical religions.) But while there are references to illegitimate children in DAO, it is only in reference to nobles' children because they aren't in the line of succession and with the exception of Alistair, the noble parents seem to be pretty open about supporting them. Sebastian got into trouble, but that seemed to be more because of public excesses that embarrassed the family rather than simply drinking and womanizing.
Agreed on the gossip - Carroll will make a remark about "stories" he heard in quarters from other Templars. But stoic - think the US Marines standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington or the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace (do I have that right, lol?) That's because of disciplined training of how to behave on duty (anyone who's ever been through basic training and had to stand at attention and show no emotion while being screamed at can attest to that 
.) The marines as a whole don't exactly have a reputation for only drinking tea when off duty. The more disciplined and controlled they are in public, the more they need some outlet off duty. And the other side of that discipline is unit bonding - that's where I'd imagine slaps on the shoulder while passing around drinks and stories in the evening and even an arm around the shoulder off duty after someone's first "blood" to help them adjust. I don't imagine a lot of physical contact, but something.
I admit, I originally understood the Templars to be more like medieval knights, trained as individual warriors, not as soldiers, a very different thing. But they've made it clear that they're an army, otherwise Cullen would make absolutely no sense as Commander of the Inquisition because he wouldn't have been trained in all the complex things that are required for running an army...which he clearly does know quite thoroughly, up to siege tactics. You can even overhear a drill sergeant chewing out recruits at Griffon Wing Keep (which just happens to be commanded by Rylen, also Templar trained.) Those aren't things you pick up from a book in a few hours, nor is the mindset of an individualistic knight anything like that of a unit-minded army officer. But I also admit I'm evaluating it as ex-military with a strong interest in history and that doesn't mean the devs are writing it that way. For all I know, they're thinking "sword in hand, obviously they know the rest by osmosis."
I love hearing other people's reasoning about their headcannons, etc.
Yes, Meredith seems inconsistent when it comes to Anders or a mage Hawke. But Alrik, I've kind of assumed was part of what went on that Cullen tells you in DAI that Meredith kept from him. She may have turned down the proposal but turned a blind eye to him turning some mages tranquil because she thought the fear of him would keep other mages in-line and she could rein him in at any time. Or he simply accused them of blood magic to her and she took his word repeatedly?
I know they officially say they're looking for unshakable faith in the Maker, but in practical terms, they mostly take young kids who are forced into the life. Obviously they get a few who wanted to be there - Lysette from Haven seems to be one. I think there's a huge amount of room for interpreting what is and isn't considered "moral" under the Chantry, though. I mean, this is an entire religion based on a god falling in love with a married woman (which has always left me questioning why they defaulted to a celibate priesthood when the origin of the religion has a lot more in common with some classical religions.) But while there are references to illegitimate children in DAO, it is only in reference to nobles' children because they aren't in the line of succession and with the exception of Alistair, the noble parents seem to be pretty open about supporting them. Sebastian got into trouble, but that seemed to be more because of public excesses that embarrassed the family rather than simply drinking and womanizing.
Agreed on the gossip - Carroll will make a remark about "stories" he heard in quarters from other Templars. But stoic - think the US Marines standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington or the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace (do I have that right, lol?) That's because of disciplined training of how to behave on duty (anyone who's ever been through basic training and had to stand at attention and show no emotion while being screamed at can attest to that
I admit, I originally understood the Templars to be more like medieval knights, trained as individual warriors, not as soldiers, a very different thing. But they've made it clear that they're an army, otherwise Cullen would make absolutely no sense as Commander of the Inquisition because he wouldn't have been trained in all the complex things that are required for running an army...which he clearly does know quite thoroughly, up to siege tactics. You can even overhear a drill sergeant chewing out recruits at Griffon Wing Keep (which just happens to be commanded by Rylen, also Templar trained.) Those aren't things you pick up from a book in a few hours, nor is the mindset of an individualistic knight anything like that of a unit-minded army officer. But I also admit I'm evaluating it as ex-military with a strong interest in history and that doesn't mean the devs are writing it that way. For all I know, they're thinking "sword in hand, obviously they know the rest by osmosis."
He also essentially says as much about himself when you encounter him during Broken Circle in DA:O. I think the headcanon part is more how that might have manifested itself in DA2 and later chapters.I'm with you that he basically immured himself at the Gallows for several reasons, biggest being he didn't *want* to be outside, because that might mean having an actual life, with friends and opportunities to get hurt. I'd say that the survivor's guilt angle has a good chance of being canon depending on how you read the subtext. We know what happened to him in Ferelden, his comments about not making many friends in Kirkwall and his general personality pretty much shout survivor's guilt. I think it'd be a farther reach to say he didn't have it than he did.
It comes from a number of lines of evidence from before DA:I filled in the blanks. As you mentioned in a later post, Cullen's devotion to the Order is rather unusual. He has always come off like a career soldier, suggesting he's been a member of the Order from early on and it doesn't seem like just a job to him to put money on the table, like with Keran. That combined with the fact that he previously had no last name made him a compelling case for one of the the foundlings we know have been adopted by the Chantry and intended for the Order from a young age. I think his isolation in DA2 also supports the notion that either he has no family other than his job/the Order, or he hasn't been in touch with them for some time. I've used both in stories. The notion that the Order is his only family makes everything he went through all the more tragic. I've also written about him not being able to explain what happened at Kinloch hold to his family, because of his shame and guilt, so he never kept in touch after moving to Kirkwall and his family all thought he was dead along with everyone else at the Tower.I've seen a lot of pre DAI fics that put Cullen as an orphan. I never really thought of it one way or another until I read them. I wasn't all that surprised, I suppose, that he had a family. As I said, I really didn't think about it deeply one way or another, but I'm curious what the thinking was at the time.
Yeah, this is turning out to be a really fun conversation. Thank you for that. Right now, with what I'm writing I've got Meredith's stance on Anders being that he's a known Warden and she doesn't want to public tangle with the Order just after a Blight. And the fact I can't see the Wardens discussing internal conflicts with anyone, I doubt they'd give Meredith the time of day.
This is the sort of friendly wrestling with interpretations I love, so I'm glad you're enjoying it too.
Non-mage Trevelyan, iirc is mentioned that they'd either be going to the Chantry proper or the Templars, being that they're a fourth child and thus... shrug. I can also see, though this hasn't been mentioned, children of commoners being sent off if they've one too many mouths to feed. I'm not sure if that would truly work since Cullen's acceptance into training implied some sort of sponsorship, but I may be reading too much into that.
The Codex is interesting since it's not written by a member of the Chantry or the Order itself, it's written by an Enchanter, who opens the thing with the public perception of Templars by the common folks is that they're paragons of all that is right and true, but in reality, his implication, is that the Chantry prefers zealots because zealots are less likely to question.
Yes, it's unclear how they get accepted; Alistair mentions both noble and commoner children, but he was the only one who wasn't quite either, so if the nobles send their illegitimate children to the Chantry, they're ones who were raised solely by their commoner parent. I'm a little fuzzy on it, but I got the impression maybe Cullen's barrier was his parents' consent?
Good point on the author of that codex!
The weird thing is celibacy was actually a late edition to the Church in the Middle Ages. They added it to the vows when Bishops and other high ranking members of the Church were willing their positions to their children.
The RCC is the only Christian denomination I remember adhering to celibacy as a rule. I think the Lutherans jettisoned that right away, though the Anglicans may not have. It's been a while since my comparative religion classes.
Of course the whole thing is that priests are married to the Church thus taking the place of the sacrament of marriage.
True, which to me makes it weirder to me that they defaulted to that. I'm not aware of any Protestant denominations that require celibacy, and it isn't common in the other religions I'm familiar with (I could be missing something obvious, of course.)
I love that drill sergeant, he reminds me of the DI in Mass Effect 2 just outside the Customs station:
Spoiler
I haven't gotten that far in the ME series, too funny!
I'm not sure if the Devs really knew what direction the Templars were going to take until DA2. That's when I started to get the feel that they were more soldiers than warriors. Of course their rank system makes no sense what so ever. Unless you're Star Trek Original Series. They did't introduce enlisted and NCOs until O'Brien became a true reoccurring character on STNG. And even in the beginning he wore the rank pips of an ensign.
As far as I can tell, there's the basic knight, the lieutenants, captains and then commanders. After that it gets fuzzy again since they mention the Knight Vigilant and imply he's some type of high rank, but that's it. And then there's the Lord Seeker and the ability to take command of the Order even though the Seekers are separate and supposed to be something of an IAD for the Templars. That worked well, didn't it?
Obviously if they are a functional army they've more organization than we've seen, but it's not like the Devs can fully show us the extent unless they take the field, and even then, since we see the Chargers in Demands of the Qun and Bull's introductory quest, and I wouldn't call only Krem, Stitches, Dalish, etc the whole of the Company. However doing a hundred or so man battle for a small quest like this would be overkill and a waste of resources, all things considered.
I think that minimal level of organization for the Templars makes sense, actually. Most of the time, they're in relatively small detachments, the size of a company or half company, no more than 40 or 50 in any one place, I think? So 4 to 5 officers at most (they don't seem to have an equivalent to the enlisted or NCOs.) They probably had more in Val Royeaux of course with the organizational command and administrative core above the local commanders was, and the Gallows might have had more, but the situation was a bit different there with both a very large Circle plus the Cathedral in Kirkwall? The organizational structure of medieval armies was not usually as carefully defined as modern ones. Smaller armies, less specialization, more frequently made up of semi-independent forces working together (think all the nobles' forces at Ostagar with the regular Fereldan army.)
The Seekers fit in rather oddly in all of it, and we're not given a lot of info either, other than the fact they are corrupted and essentially have been for quite a while. Of course, we're left at the end of everything with the implication that Cass is rebuilding the Seekers (and surviving Templars?) into something new, hopefully something that's more inclusive like they were originally and in a way that will be harder to erase the inclusion on non-humans and mages. And Cullen offers Templars an exit they didn't have before from lyrium addiction. Those two things together suggest some interesting possibilities for the future...
He also essentially says as much about himself when you encounter him during Broken Circle in DA:I. I think the headcanon part is more how that might have manifested itself in DA2 and later chapters.
It comes from a number of lines of evidence from before DA:I filled in the blanks. As you mentioned in a later post, Cullen's devotion to the Order is rather unusual. He has always come off like a career soldier, suggesting he's been a member of the Order from early on and it doesn't seem like just a job to him to put money on the table, like with Keran. That combined with the fact that he previously had no last name made him a compelling case for one of the the foundlings we know have been adopted by the Chantry and intended for the Order from a young age. I think his isolation in DA2 also supports the notion that either he has no family other than his job/the Order, or he hasn't been in touch with them for some time. I've used both in stories. The notion that the Order is his only family makes everything he went through all the more tragic. I've also written about him not being able to explain what happened at Kinloch hold to his family, because of his shame and guilt, so he never kept in touch after moving to Kirkwall and his family all thought he was dead along with everyone else at the Tower.
This is basically Keran's situation in DA2, tho. He's training to keep food on the table so Macha doesn't end up on the street.Non-mage Trevelyan, iirc is mentioned that they'd either be going to the Chantry proper or the Templars, being that they're a fourth child and thus... shrug. I can also see, though this hasn't been mentioned, children of commoners being sent off if they've one too many mouths to feed.
I think you're right that the basic point is that the templars are supposed to be viewed as implacable and not to be reasoned with. However, an important lens for this particular codex is that was from DA:O, back when they described the templars from a far more religious slant and still implied that templars took vows that precluded any relationships, etc. Altho this was laterThe Codex is interesting since it's not written by a member of the Chantry or the Order itself, it's written by an Enchanter, who opens the thing with the public perception of Templars by the common folks is that they're paragons of all that is right and true, but in reality, his implication, is that the Chantry prefers zealots because zealots are less likely to question.
When DA2 came out, suddenly templars can marry, and have families that they support with their meager earnings, but all subject to military-like fraternization rules, and have some mysterious hierarchy of leadership that has been a moving target depending on which source you read (ahem). So indeed, I think the devs' intentions for the Order changed over time. The (da:O) Chantry hierarchy codex also says that some holy initiates, those who take vows, also can train to be templars, so originally there were templars who took actual religious vows. This, however, has never been mentioned or clarified elsewhere.I'm not sure if the Devs really knew what direction the Templars were going to take until DA2.
This is basically Keran's situation in DA2, tho. He's training to keep food on the table so Macha doesn't end up on the street.
I think you're right that the basic point is that the templars are supposed to be viewed as implacable and not to be reasoned with. However, an important lens for this particular codex is that was from DA:O, back when they described the templars from a far more religious slant and still implied that templars took vows that precluded any relationships, etc. Altho this was later retconned explained by David Gaider to have certain exceptions that allow marriage, etc.
So, I think you're right that:
When DA2 came out, suddenly templars can marry, and have families that they support with their meager earnings, but all subject to military-like fraternization rules, and have some mysterious hierarchy of leadership that has been a moving target depending on which source you read (ahem). So indeed, I think the devs' intentions for the Order changed over time. The (da:O) Chantry hierarchy codex also says that some holy initiates, those who take vows, also can train to be templars, so originally there were templars who took actual religious vows. This, however, has never been mentioned or clarified elsewhere.
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