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queensland) wrote2013-01-04 04:05 pm
queensland) wrote2013-01-04 04:05 pm
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Dragon Age meta essay, take 1
Today I want to talk about Knight-Captain Cullen, who is one of the many people that the Dragon Age fandom either love or hate. I'd like to delve into some of the reasons why I find him a fascinating character despite his flaws and despite all that he's done.
To this end, I'd like to be very frank about what goes on in the games, both in Origins (and Awakening, by proxy) and the second game. This post will contain TRIGGERS for sexual assault, sexual abuse, violence, torture, and graphic mentions of PTSD. I strongly urge that you take care when reading this because I'm going to be very blunt about some of the things that happen and I don't want to upset anyone or unearth any uncomfortable memories or feelings.
Please also take what I say here with a grain of salt. I don't know everything about the games nor am I an expert on the subjects I'll be writing about. I do, however, have experience working in the field of victimization and trauma, and I'm going to be giving a slightly informed opinion here.
Also THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
Cullen is a character I often see either loved because of his looks, because he took a stand for what was happening in Kirkwall at the end of the second game, or because of his crush on Surana/Amell in Origins. I also see him receiving a lot of hate because he turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the Kirkwall Circle (and perhaps Kinloch Hold, as well, but I'll get to that later) and because of one of the potential endings for Origins. The depth of his character and what has been hinted at has caught my attention and I've enjoyed exploring his backstory and the development he's undergone.
The first thing I'd like to mention are the crimes that happen in the Circles. This is an overview from what's been mentioned in the games and what the characters say in passing.
- Physical assault or abuse from Templars to mages (I use the word abuse to denote pervasive assault, not just a one time occurrence).
- Sexual assault or abuse from Templars to mages (see: Ser Alrik and mentions in Anders' dialogue to Sebastian).
- Punishment bordering on torture similar to that of war criminals (Anders being locked in solitary confinement).
- Neglect (mentioned in Asunder).
- The Rite of Tranquility.
- Execution of single or groups of mages for crimes they did or did not commit without a proper trial.
- The Rite of Annulment.
All of these things are liable to happen in every Circle, not just in Kirkwall, Ferelden, or Orlais. Even the Antivan Circle, one of the more moderate Circles in Thedas, has proven to be unsafe. No one Templar is exempt from these crimes, especially if you examine the situation and realize that Templars are supposed to be the authority in these conditions and should not be using this or their power over those they are tasked with protecting. Even if a Templar does not actually commit these crimes, they have a duty to report abuse and many have either been unaware (through naivety) or have closed their eyes to the goings-on of their fellows (which is called omission in criminal law).
But no one Templar is capable of putting a stop to these crimes, either. Those who make an attempt are probably dismissed from the Order and are left to succumb to the madness of their addiction to lyrium, which is the leash by which the Chantry holds dominance over their every move. We don't see many mentions of these supposed "heroes" who have tried to stand up to their corrupt authority, most likely because they aren't considered heroes by their fellow Templars or by the mages they have tried to protect. I wouldn't be surprised if these Templars are executed for treason along with any mages they attempt to free in the process.
For example, let's look at Ser Thrask from Dragon Age II. His daughter is a mage and he fails to protect her from Templar abuse and her subsequent death when she tries to fend off her pursuers and succumbs to demonic possession. He also makes an attempt to keep Feynriel safe. He tries to save the Starkhaven mages which can summarily lead to the death of his fellow Templars or to a peaceful solution. However, six years later, Thrask allows for blood magic and kidnapping to occur in an attempt to intimidate Hawke into helping. Thrask is then murdered by one of the Starkhaven mages. Should the mages be returned to the Circle, one of his fellow Templars, Ser Karras, will tell Hawke that Thrask will not live long enough to protect the mages from being executed as well. In other scenarios, you can hear in the Gallows that three of the mages were randomly executed.
Regardless, it still took Thrask over six years to make any sort of strong push to help the mages secure their freedom, and he is one of the few who outwardly admit very early on that he is skeptical of the efforts used against mages.
Ignoring the abuse and pain of others is wrong. It makes you completely complicit in what's going on, even if you disagree with the actions taken.
This, however, is only a set-up for Cullen's situation.
We don't know anything about Cullen's backstory before the events of the mage origin and the Broken Circle quest. We do, however, know that he is selected to guard the Mage Warden (Surana or Amell) during their Harrowing. Should the Warden be a female, it becomes very obvious that Cullen has a crush on her. Jowan, if he's in the party, will comment on this. Other apprentice mages comment on this fact as well. His codex even contends that when he left to work in Kirkwall, people in the Gallows knew of his crush. To believe that his fellow Templars had no idea would just be idiotic.
Why was Cullen, of all people, chosen to be the one to stand guard over the Mage Warden's Harrowing? It's more than likely that this was his test: if Surana/Amell emerged as an abomination, he would have to slay them in cold blood. That would wisen him up to how the Order operated, wouldn't it? And if you think about it, that's rather cruel to force someone into.
On the other side of the coin (as I've seen many people mention before), it can be very uncomfortable to witness his crush on the Mage Warden. Many liken it to a relationship between prison guard and the criminal they oversee, which is a very obvious abuse of power. I have no personal opinion on this, though I will point out that Cullen never makes any sort of advance on her nor does he try to force her into a relationship. In fact, if the Warden flirts with him, he runs away. No one can help the feelings they harbor for someone else, whether they are romantic or sexual in nature. But they have a responsibility to keep them out of the workforce and to treat that individual with respect. I would contend that he does do this for Surana/Amell, even if it's obvious that he has a crush on her.
When the Broken Circle quest happens, Cullen is found in a prison of Uldred's making just outside of the Harrowing chamber. He has been trapped there and has been forced to see his fellow Templars slaughtered, mages turned into abominations, his comrades and people he knew either killed, enslaved by demons, or be taken upstairs into the Harrowing chamber by Uldred. He's been kept in that prison and has heard screams from the above chamber. When the Warden approaches (mage origin or not), he pleads with them to kill any mage left standing in the Tower, as there can be no guarantee that a demon is not hiding within them. You have the option to take his advice.
The Broken Circle quest can happen at any point during the year between the beginning of Origins (Ostagar) and the end. That means that you can hold off on doing the quest until as close to the ending as you can manage, which would say that Cullen has been trapped and tormented for months without reprieve. He may not have been physically damaged, but he comes away from the experience with severe PTSD, vicarious trauma (when you relive trauma via someone else's experience), and survivor's guilt (as he is the only Templar inside of main section of the Tower to escape with his life). This is INCREDIBLY important to his character and a canonical fact for him, like it or not.
There are several "non-canon" endings for Cullen in Origins that should be mentioned. I'm going to copy and paste from the Wiki just for argument's sake:
"There are several rumors about Cullen's fate after the Fifth Blight, which may be revealed if the Warden was a mage or if they sided with him during the outbreak of abominations in the Circle Tower. If the Warden sided with Cullen, or was a mage who did not grant the Circle Tower autonomy, then the rumors say that Cullen will eventually become Knight-Commander of the Circle Tower after Greagoir retires, watching over the magi with a much more strict and cruel regime than even Greagoir had. If the Warden was a mage and did not side with Cullen, and gives the tower autonomy, the templar endures festering mental scars from his experience in the tower. This leads to an eventual mental breakdown during which he kills three mage apprentices before fleeing."
These "non-canon" endings are just as important to his character as the canonical one. The writers in charge of the game have given him these alternative endings because they are, in fact, a part of who he is. His trauma leads him to either become a strict Knight-Commander or to kill three mages whom he blames for his suffering and then flees. Though none of these stick (since we have the second game to confirm the "canonical" outcome for him) and are classified as rumors, they are still what he could have become.
We enter into the second game where we see him interrogating a fellow recruit through violence, his justification that he was afraid that something truly was going on and the man was going to keep hiding the truth out of fear for his job. He instills a fear for his life into Wilmod, who turns into an abomination. Cullen does not immediately leap into the fray in anger. Instead, he recoils in fear, though he does join the fight with Hawke. At the end of the quest, you have the option to petition for Keran's job and to briefly debate with him about mages, where he says that mages aren't people like Hawke and company (even if Hawke is a mage?).
This brings me back to one of the crimes I mentioned earlier: solitary confinement, which is classified as a criminal punishment and is frequently used with prisoners of war. I mention this again because this is a very important topic when it comes to the relationship between Templars and mages, and that is that they treat one another as if they are jailors and criminals. In fact, I would argue that the Templars and mages both have a war-like mentality, meaning that they operate as if they are at war with one another. What is done in times of war has been, historically, not considered criminal; when prisoners of war have been interrogated violently, the people who committed these acts are not brought to any "justice", as they are operating under conditions of war. When a soldier kills another, they are not called a murderer.
This can, actually, go very far to explain why mages also commit atrocities on other mages and Templars, because they are operating under war-like conditions. Anders has no qualms with murdering Templars (though he shows some hesitation in various circumstances). Grace has no conscious thought for the safety of Thrask or the other Templars when she resorts to blood magic.
I read an argument somewhere about mage-on-mage violence as a way to subvert the violence they themselves are being put through by their Templar overseers. It is, in fact, true that many people who are abused resort to violence on others because of modeling, learned behavior, or simply in an attempt to assert their position because they have lost control of their safety and their lives.
Again, we can look at Cullen to see this as solid evidence. He once had thought and care for mages. I believe he even mentions that some were his friends and he watched them be turned into abominations (don't quote me on this, though). The trauma he has undergone has warped his thinking. He can't see them as friends or as innocents when they could be two steps away from harming him again. While we have no evidence to suggest that he is personally abusing mages, we know that he was aware of what Ser Alrik was doing, and that he is witness to the execution and tranquility of several mages over the course of his stay in Kirkwall.
Cullen has closed his eyes to the horrors these people experience because he has been similarly traumatized himself. I will not compare mental torture with physical or sexual abuse. These are not comparable issues. What I AM saying, however, is that he has undergone trauma and is mentally incapable of pushing past his pain to stop the pain others are experiencing.
Meredith Stannard and Thrask are excellent foils for his character. Thrask is a man who has a daughter who is a mage and sees them as people, though he is helpless to stop the abuses that happen even when he witnesses them. The few times he makes an attempt to stop them, he either fails (as we don't see them mentioned) or he has to call on outside help to make any headway. Meredith is a woman whose sister was a mage, one who was sheltered and kept out of the Circle. She became possessed by a demon and slaughtered 70 villagers and Meredith's family, all save Meredith herself.
Thrask witnesses the horrors of the Circle with a heart willing to help and a conscience heavy with the loss of his daughter. Meredith orders several of the atrocities in Kirkwall with an iron fist and the same survivor's guilt and similar trauma that Cullen has undergone, which she now uses to harden her heart to what she must do. (The obligatory note here, of course, is that Meredith's anger and paranoia become exacerbated by the lyrium idol, which drives her to overlook Anders' crime and to blanket-blame it on every mage in Kirkwall, leading to her using the Rite of Annulment.)
These three characters encapsulate the three different types of Templars we, as gamers, are supposed to feel sympathy for and to possibly aid over the course of the second game. We are supposed to help Thrask and to identify with his struggle for mage freedom (and he becomes an ally if you are pro-mage). We sympathize with Cullen's trauma but are equally disgusted and angry that he turns a blind eye and only outwardly expresses his skepticism in Act 3 (OUTWARDLY, remember, as we have no idea how long he's thought this). We are supposed to endorse Meredith's iron fist and assist her in bringing the mages to heel (if you are pro-Templar). These three are put into the game and fleshed out so we, as gamers, can find one of them to identify with. That is the whole purpose of the gaming experience.
(The only additional characters are Ser Karras and Ser Alrik, one of which openly threatens to kill a fellow Templar and the other who creates a way of sterilizing mages, his "Tranquil Solution" even mimicking a horrific piece of our world's history. These two are frowned upon by several of the characters, especially Alrik; remember that Meredith and Cullen both forbid what Alrik is doing, which isn't enough for the victims of his physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.)
Many believe Cullen's interference at the end of Act 3 is "too little, too late". Others say "better late than never", as Meredith has finally gone far enough off the deep end to require his interference. In the pro-Templar ending, we get the chance to see how Cullen feels about the Rite of Annulment when you speak with him briefly, where he expresses his doubt in Meredith's decision. You also have the opportunity for him to step in and keep three mages from being executed by Meredith, saying that he will take personal responsibility for their well being, even if they should resort to blood magic. "That's what being a Templar is all about."
Cullen undergoes enough development during the time or Origins to the time of the second game to properly make him a very realistic and interesting character. Dragon Age has always been about grey characters, those who are not heroes and who are also not villains. Cullen is one of those, and with his potential role in the third game, he has the opportunity to grow even further as an individual character.
With all of this said, I hope to shed more light on Cullen's character as a way to provide ample reasoning for his actions and his rationale for the games. Giving reason does not mean providing an excuse, as there is never an excuse for allowing abuse of any kind to happen. As I have said before, his trauma has prevented him from acting and from interfering in the situations he has been privy to, and though this is a reason for his actions, he is not absolved from all guilt.
In fact, one of my greatest hopes for the third game is that the Inquisitor and many of the other characters can argue and debate with Cullen over his morals and thought processes. I anticipate the chance to talk about his trauma and about his thoughts on Kirkwall, and how he has the potential to heal from his wounds and atone for what has happened during his time in Kinloch Hold and as Knight-Captain.
To this end, I'd like to be very frank about what goes on in the games, both in Origins (and Awakening, by proxy) and the second game. This post will contain TRIGGERS for sexual assault, sexual abuse, violence, torture, and graphic mentions of PTSD. I strongly urge that you take care when reading this because I'm going to be very blunt about some of the things that happen and I don't want to upset anyone or unearth any uncomfortable memories or feelings.
Please also take what I say here with a grain of salt. I don't know everything about the games nor am I an expert on the subjects I'll be writing about. I do, however, have experience working in the field of victimization and trauma, and I'm going to be giving a slightly informed opinion here.
Also THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
Cullen is a character I often see either loved because of his looks, because he took a stand for what was happening in Kirkwall at the end of the second game, or because of his crush on Surana/Amell in Origins. I also see him receiving a lot of hate because he turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the Kirkwall Circle (and perhaps Kinloch Hold, as well, but I'll get to that later) and because of one of the potential endings for Origins. The depth of his character and what has been hinted at has caught my attention and I've enjoyed exploring his backstory and the development he's undergone.
The first thing I'd like to mention are the crimes that happen in the Circles. This is an overview from what's been mentioned in the games and what the characters say in passing.
- Physical assault or abuse from Templars to mages (I use the word abuse to denote pervasive assault, not just a one time occurrence).
- Sexual assault or abuse from Templars to mages (see: Ser Alrik and mentions in Anders' dialogue to Sebastian).
- Punishment bordering on torture similar to that of war criminals (Anders being locked in solitary confinement).
- Neglect (mentioned in Asunder).
- The Rite of Tranquility.
- Execution of single or groups of mages for crimes they did or did not commit without a proper trial.
- The Rite of Annulment.
All of these things are liable to happen in every Circle, not just in Kirkwall, Ferelden, or Orlais. Even the Antivan Circle, one of the more moderate Circles in Thedas, has proven to be unsafe. No one Templar is exempt from these crimes, especially if you examine the situation and realize that Templars are supposed to be the authority in these conditions and should not be using this or their power over those they are tasked with protecting. Even if a Templar does not actually commit these crimes, they have a duty to report abuse and many have either been unaware (through naivety) or have closed their eyes to the goings-on of their fellows (which is called omission in criminal law).
But no one Templar is capable of putting a stop to these crimes, either. Those who make an attempt are probably dismissed from the Order and are left to succumb to the madness of their addiction to lyrium, which is the leash by which the Chantry holds dominance over their every move. We don't see many mentions of these supposed "heroes" who have tried to stand up to their corrupt authority, most likely because they aren't considered heroes by their fellow Templars or by the mages they have tried to protect. I wouldn't be surprised if these Templars are executed for treason along with any mages they attempt to free in the process.
For example, let's look at Ser Thrask from Dragon Age II. His daughter is a mage and he fails to protect her from Templar abuse and her subsequent death when she tries to fend off her pursuers and succumbs to demonic possession. He also makes an attempt to keep Feynriel safe. He tries to save the Starkhaven mages which can summarily lead to the death of his fellow Templars or to a peaceful solution. However, six years later, Thrask allows for blood magic and kidnapping to occur in an attempt to intimidate Hawke into helping. Thrask is then murdered by one of the Starkhaven mages. Should the mages be returned to the Circle, one of his fellow Templars, Ser Karras, will tell Hawke that Thrask will not live long enough to protect the mages from being executed as well. In other scenarios, you can hear in the Gallows that three of the mages were randomly executed.
Regardless, it still took Thrask over six years to make any sort of strong push to help the mages secure their freedom, and he is one of the few who outwardly admit very early on that he is skeptical of the efforts used against mages.
Ignoring the abuse and pain of others is wrong. It makes you completely complicit in what's going on, even if you disagree with the actions taken.
This, however, is only a set-up for Cullen's situation.
We don't know anything about Cullen's backstory before the events of the mage origin and the Broken Circle quest. We do, however, know that he is selected to guard the Mage Warden (Surana or Amell) during their Harrowing. Should the Warden be a female, it becomes very obvious that Cullen has a crush on her. Jowan, if he's in the party, will comment on this. Other apprentice mages comment on this fact as well. His codex even contends that when he left to work in Kirkwall, people in the Gallows knew of his crush. To believe that his fellow Templars had no idea would just be idiotic.
Why was Cullen, of all people, chosen to be the one to stand guard over the Mage Warden's Harrowing? It's more than likely that this was his test: if Surana/Amell emerged as an abomination, he would have to slay them in cold blood. That would wisen him up to how the Order operated, wouldn't it? And if you think about it, that's rather cruel to force someone into.
On the other side of the coin (as I've seen many people mention before), it can be very uncomfortable to witness his crush on the Mage Warden. Many liken it to a relationship between prison guard and the criminal they oversee, which is a very obvious abuse of power. I have no personal opinion on this, though I will point out that Cullen never makes any sort of advance on her nor does he try to force her into a relationship. In fact, if the Warden flirts with him, he runs away. No one can help the feelings they harbor for someone else, whether they are romantic or sexual in nature. But they have a responsibility to keep them out of the workforce and to treat that individual with respect. I would contend that he does do this for Surana/Amell, even if it's obvious that he has a crush on her.
When the Broken Circle quest happens, Cullen is found in a prison of Uldred's making just outside of the Harrowing chamber. He has been trapped there and has been forced to see his fellow Templars slaughtered, mages turned into abominations, his comrades and people he knew either killed, enslaved by demons, or be taken upstairs into the Harrowing chamber by Uldred. He's been kept in that prison and has heard screams from the above chamber. When the Warden approaches (mage origin or not), he pleads with them to kill any mage left standing in the Tower, as there can be no guarantee that a demon is not hiding within them. You have the option to take his advice.
The Broken Circle quest can happen at any point during the year between the beginning of Origins (Ostagar) and the end. That means that you can hold off on doing the quest until as close to the ending as you can manage, which would say that Cullen has been trapped and tormented for months without reprieve. He may not have been physically damaged, but he comes away from the experience with severe PTSD, vicarious trauma (when you relive trauma via someone else's experience), and survivor's guilt (as he is the only Templar inside of main section of the Tower to escape with his life). This is INCREDIBLY important to his character and a canonical fact for him, like it or not.
There are several "non-canon" endings for Cullen in Origins that should be mentioned. I'm going to copy and paste from the Wiki just for argument's sake:
"There are several rumors about Cullen's fate after the Fifth Blight, which may be revealed if the Warden was a mage or if they sided with him during the outbreak of abominations in the Circle Tower. If the Warden sided with Cullen, or was a mage who did not grant the Circle Tower autonomy, then the rumors say that Cullen will eventually become Knight-Commander of the Circle Tower after Greagoir retires, watching over the magi with a much more strict and cruel regime than even Greagoir had. If the Warden was a mage and did not side with Cullen, and gives the tower autonomy, the templar endures festering mental scars from his experience in the tower. This leads to an eventual mental breakdown during which he kills three mage apprentices before fleeing."
These "non-canon" endings are just as important to his character as the canonical one. The writers in charge of the game have given him these alternative endings because they are, in fact, a part of who he is. His trauma leads him to either become a strict Knight-Commander or to kill three mages whom he blames for his suffering and then flees. Though none of these stick (since we have the second game to confirm the "canonical" outcome for him) and are classified as rumors, they are still what he could have become.
We enter into the second game where we see him interrogating a fellow recruit through violence, his justification that he was afraid that something truly was going on and the man was going to keep hiding the truth out of fear for his job. He instills a fear for his life into Wilmod, who turns into an abomination. Cullen does not immediately leap into the fray in anger. Instead, he recoils in fear, though he does join the fight with Hawke. At the end of the quest, you have the option to petition for Keran's job and to briefly debate with him about mages, where he says that mages aren't people like Hawke and company (even if Hawke is a mage?).
This brings me back to one of the crimes I mentioned earlier: solitary confinement, which is classified as a criminal punishment and is frequently used with prisoners of war. I mention this again because this is a very important topic when it comes to the relationship between Templars and mages, and that is that they treat one another as if they are jailors and criminals. In fact, I would argue that the Templars and mages both have a war-like mentality, meaning that they operate as if they are at war with one another. What is done in times of war has been, historically, not considered criminal; when prisoners of war have been interrogated violently, the people who committed these acts are not brought to any "justice", as they are operating under conditions of war. When a soldier kills another, they are not called a murderer.
This can, actually, go very far to explain why mages also commit atrocities on other mages and Templars, because they are operating under war-like conditions. Anders has no qualms with murdering Templars (though he shows some hesitation in various circumstances). Grace has no conscious thought for the safety of Thrask or the other Templars when she resorts to blood magic.
I read an argument somewhere about mage-on-mage violence as a way to subvert the violence they themselves are being put through by their Templar overseers. It is, in fact, true that many people who are abused resort to violence on others because of modeling, learned behavior, or simply in an attempt to assert their position because they have lost control of their safety and their lives.
Again, we can look at Cullen to see this as solid evidence. He once had thought and care for mages. I believe he even mentions that some were his friends and he watched them be turned into abominations (don't quote me on this, though). The trauma he has undergone has warped his thinking. He can't see them as friends or as innocents when they could be two steps away from harming him again. While we have no evidence to suggest that he is personally abusing mages, we know that he was aware of what Ser Alrik was doing, and that he is witness to the execution and tranquility of several mages over the course of his stay in Kirkwall.
Cullen has closed his eyes to the horrors these people experience because he has been similarly traumatized himself. I will not compare mental torture with physical or sexual abuse. These are not comparable issues. What I AM saying, however, is that he has undergone trauma and is mentally incapable of pushing past his pain to stop the pain others are experiencing.
Meredith Stannard and Thrask are excellent foils for his character. Thrask is a man who has a daughter who is a mage and sees them as people, though he is helpless to stop the abuses that happen even when he witnesses them. The few times he makes an attempt to stop them, he either fails (as we don't see them mentioned) or he has to call on outside help to make any headway. Meredith is a woman whose sister was a mage, one who was sheltered and kept out of the Circle. She became possessed by a demon and slaughtered 70 villagers and Meredith's family, all save Meredith herself.
Thrask witnesses the horrors of the Circle with a heart willing to help and a conscience heavy with the loss of his daughter. Meredith orders several of the atrocities in Kirkwall with an iron fist and the same survivor's guilt and similar trauma that Cullen has undergone, which she now uses to harden her heart to what she must do. (The obligatory note here, of course, is that Meredith's anger and paranoia become exacerbated by the lyrium idol, which drives her to overlook Anders' crime and to blanket-blame it on every mage in Kirkwall, leading to her using the Rite of Annulment.)
These three characters encapsulate the three different types of Templars we, as gamers, are supposed to feel sympathy for and to possibly aid over the course of the second game. We are supposed to help Thrask and to identify with his struggle for mage freedom (and he becomes an ally if you are pro-mage). We sympathize with Cullen's trauma but are equally disgusted and angry that he turns a blind eye and only outwardly expresses his skepticism in Act 3 (OUTWARDLY, remember, as we have no idea how long he's thought this). We are supposed to endorse Meredith's iron fist and assist her in bringing the mages to heel (if you are pro-Templar). These three are put into the game and fleshed out so we, as gamers, can find one of them to identify with. That is the whole purpose of the gaming experience.
(The only additional characters are Ser Karras and Ser Alrik, one of which openly threatens to kill a fellow Templar and the other who creates a way of sterilizing mages, his "Tranquil Solution" even mimicking a horrific piece of our world's history. These two are frowned upon by several of the characters, especially Alrik; remember that Meredith and Cullen both forbid what Alrik is doing, which isn't enough for the victims of his physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.)
Many believe Cullen's interference at the end of Act 3 is "too little, too late". Others say "better late than never", as Meredith has finally gone far enough off the deep end to require his interference. In the pro-Templar ending, we get the chance to see how Cullen feels about the Rite of Annulment when you speak with him briefly, where he expresses his doubt in Meredith's decision. You also have the opportunity for him to step in and keep three mages from being executed by Meredith, saying that he will take personal responsibility for their well being, even if they should resort to blood magic. "That's what being a Templar is all about."
Cullen undergoes enough development during the time or Origins to the time of the second game to properly make him a very realistic and interesting character. Dragon Age has always been about grey characters, those who are not heroes and who are also not villains. Cullen is one of those, and with his potential role in the third game, he has the opportunity to grow even further as an individual character.
With all of this said, I hope to shed more light on Cullen's character as a way to provide ample reasoning for his actions and his rationale for the games. Giving reason does not mean providing an excuse, as there is never an excuse for allowing abuse of any kind to happen. As I have said before, his trauma has prevented him from acting and from interfering in the situations he has been privy to, and though this is a reason for his actions, he is not absolved from all guilt.
In fact, one of my greatest hopes for the third game is that the Inquisitor and many of the other characters can argue and debate with Cullen over his morals and thought processes. I anticipate the chance to talk about his trauma and about his thoughts on Kirkwall, and how he has the potential to heal from his wounds and atone for what has happened during his time in Kinloch Hold and as Knight-Captain.