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[Truby-Liz]

Just finished the Broken Circle quest, and am redoing the convo with Cullen. Skadi, you're right, it is quite guilt-ridden  - if you pick the right convo options he knows that it's a sin and he's ashamed of liking a mage. Poor Cullen. He seems almost innocent in the mage origin story. Broken Circle brings about a few changes in him though...

Truby-Liz

[Addai]

Skadi_the_Evil_Elf wrote...

i don't think Cullen's feelings towards the mage count as infatuation or a "crush". I think obsession seems to describe it better, and a rather guilt ridden dark obsession to boot. Given the background of the Circle and relationship between Templars and Mages, and what I gather from other templars in the game, it was not a normal, youthful "crush".

From conversations between Wynne and a city elf, and other convos with Wynne from other origins, the templars generally are not very kind towards apostate mages when they are caught. Given their power and position over mages, It wouldn't take much imagination to figure that sexual and/or emotional abuse of mages in the Circle might happen alot more than you think.

Cullen's obsession with a female mage might be more along the lines of possesiveness mixed in with weird religous ideology and a brain being tampered with by lyrium.

Hm, well I certainly didn't get any vibe from Cullen that he was sexually harrassing you.  In fact rather the opposite, he was awkward and shy and fighting with himself.  He doesn't come up to you, after all, and if you proposition him he runs away.  The unhealthy part is in himself, not in his interaction with the PC.  But as I said upthread, I think it turns dark for him when he's tortured by blood mages who try to mind-control him, using his feelings for the PC against him.  When he sees you he says "not this again..."  They had obviously used those thoughts against him.

[Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

Addai67 wrote...

Hm, well I certainly didn't get any vibe from Cullen that he was sexually harrassing you.  In fact rather the opposite, he was awkward and shy and fighting with himself.  He doesn't come up to you, after all, and if you proposition him he runs away.  The unhealthy part is in himself, not in his interaction with the PC.  But as I said upthread, I think it turns dark for him when he's tortured by blood mages who try to mind-control him, using his feelings for the PC against him.  When he sees you he says "not this again..."  They had obviously used those thoughts against him.

No, not directly, as far as sexual harrassment goes. I was refering to the situation and mentality within the Circle, and the likely direction any relationship or dealings with Cullen could have gone had your mage never left the circle, and Uldred never took over. He has a seeming obsession/interest in your mage that he feels is unholy and sinful, yet he can't help. His religous training and  beliefs worsen this, and given the mentality of his fellow templars,  it is not something he would likely come to terms with in a healthy manner.

Eventually, something would have to give. That kind of built up guilt/sexual frustration/supression, coupled with an attitude that mages are somehow sinful abominations that must be supressed and controlled would not lead to a very pleasant resolution for the mage.

When you first talk to him after your harrowing, and even before Uldred, it seems at first that he holds a level of sympathy for mages. However, he is also a young and experienced templar who hasn't been in the game long. I think he would have still turned darker given time and exposure to other templars and harrowings. If you play as a male mage, where he is not romantically interested in the character, he says that he is new to the game, and the idea of abominations frightens him. He even says he wonders if all mages don't possibly have a demon lurking within them, that it seems impossible to tell. So, the seeds are already within his mind for his infatuation/obsession to turn into something darker, even without the blood mage tampering.

What was done to him by the blood mages, in screwing with his mind and his latent feelings of guilt and shame, didn't so much "turn him". I think it just sped up the inevitable for him, turning him down a course very rapidly that he probably would have ended up taking given a little more time and exposure to Circle life and templar dogma.

In the end, I really see no way for any possibility of romantic relations with Cullen to become  anything but very dangerous and unpleasant for a female mage.