Necroseer of the Green Dales, Vanquisher of the Rebel Mages of Ferelden, Crusher of the vile Apostates of the Mage Underground, Champion of the Blessed Andraste herself!
art by @igrraine, tysm again >.<
Cullen found her by absence before he found her by sight.
She was not where she was supposed to be, no quiet corner near the ambassadors, no polite semicircle of attendants orbiting the Inquisitor. The room felt… off, like a ship missing its anchor. He excused himself with practiced ease, murmured something about reports and timing, and followed the faint tug of instinct down a side gallery where the music softened and the air cooled and his confirmation was the soft white moth that nested near a window.
Esfir had claimed a long chaise as though it had personally offended her and she had decided to win the argument anyway. She lay stretched along it at an unladylike angle, arms lifted and folded behind her head, posture loose in a way she almost never allowed herself in public, not since Haven. One leg was bent, the other draped over the edge, green silk pooling like spilled wine. Her head was tipped back slightly, eyes half lidded, expression hovering somewhere between boredom and mild, tipsy amusement.
Maker, help me.
She looked simply beautiful. Not ceremonially so, not painfully composed. Warm. Alive. The tension that usually lived in her shoulders had slipped away, and the mark was quiet enough that even Cullen could feel the difference. Her hair had loosened, curls escaping their careful arrangement. A faint flush warmed her cheeks, the sort that came from wine taken too quickly and relief taken too rarely.
Her eyes slid sideways, sharp even now, and then softened. “There you are,” she said, voice low, fond, and entirely unsuited to the Winter Palace. “I was starting to think Orlais had eaten you.”
Cullen stopped a careful distance away, arms folding loosely. “You disappeared,” he said, though there was no reprimand in it. “I was looking for you.”
She hummed, rolling one shoulder languidly. “I got bored,” she admitted. “Someone spent ten minutes explaining a tapestry to me like it might confess its sins if I stared long enough.” Her mouth curved. “It did not.”
Against his better judgment, Cullen laughed. Just a little.
“You shouldn’t be alone,” he said, automatically and then softened it. “At least not where they might notice.”
“They won’t,” Esfir replied, entirely unconcerned. She glanced around the quiet gallery, then back at him, eyes bright. “Everyone important is very busy pretending to be important.” She shifted, patting the edge of the chaise with her foot. “Sit. You look like you’ve been bracing for impact all night.”
He hesitated. Then, because he trusted her judgment more than the court’s rules, he did. Up close, he could smell the wine on her breath, faint and sweet beneath the herbs she favored. The glow of candlelight caught on her skin, softened the hard lines the world kept trying to carve into her. She tilted her head, studying him with open curiosity.
“You’re very serious tonight,” she observed.
“Someone has to be,” he replied dryly.
She laughed, quiet, unguarded and for a moment the Palace seemed very far away. “You’re doing wonderfully,” she said, reaching out just enough to brush her fingers against his sleeve, brief and innocent and devastating. “I promise.”
Cullen swallowed. “And you?”
Esfir shrugged, arms returning behind her head. “I am surviving,” she said lightly, then, after a beat, softer: “And I am very glad you found me.”
He looked at her then, not as Commander, not as courtly necessity, but as the woman sprawled on a chaise, a little tipsy, entirely herself, bored of politics and vapidness despite it all.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “So am I.”
They stayed like that for a few stolen minutes, the world held at bay, until duty inevitably came knocking again.
“Don’t disappear again but do find me if you decide it.”
She watched him, eyes bright. “Why of course, Commander.”
I like Cullen because he’s a recovering addict that has clearly never talked to a girl sober and even when he has, he’s sounded dumb every time, he has Catholic trauma, and he is constantly screaming about eating and humiliating the rich.
(and stories about addicts always hit for me especially when one is on the path of redemption; I know ya forget but addiction is a disease, it doesn’t make you less or more than. You all have a terrible relationship with that, do better.)
Plus I hc him to be thick af and 6’4 *creepy sonic gif*
not sure which blog to ask this but, what would modern au asma's fits be like
You’re good dw! I’m flattered you’d even want to know 😭
To me, Asma’s fashion is a mix of Palestinian-contemporary and like. Alt hijabi fashion
These are from @ suzytamimi on instagram, can definitely see Asma wearing stuff like this
And literally anything from Dar Noora though that’s a bit more formal:
And just more general hijabi alt fashion (there’s actually a running joke in my friend group about it):
Thank you sm for asking! I might do more modern au asma in the future. I may not follow Islam anymore but I still love Asma being Muslim in a modern setting <3
I’ve honestly been thinking about it ever since I saw people joking about how Cullen is just ‘commander Cullen’ not commander Rutherford, something that separates him from people like Ambassador Montiliyet, Magister Pavus, Seeker Pentaghast, etc. and really thinking about it the obvious answer is that his name carries more power than his surname.
In this he actually has more in common with people like Leliana and Vivienne, two people who didn’t come from nobility and are identified with their occupation rather than heritage: Sypmaster Leliana (though Leliana also gets her alias Nightingale) and Grand Enchanter Vivienne. Though the character he probably has most in common with is actually Sera: they’re both from Ferelden, both from poor backgrounds, both orphaned, and both generally wary of magic.
If you read a lot of the war table missions, a lot of the disagreements Cullen has with the other advisors (aside from mage/templar issues) is related to nobility - one of the first operations you get is the ‘address a nobleman’s concerns’ about refugees in the hinterlands, the noble in question getting angry that some of the refugees are mages and elves.
Josephine’s suggestion is to just ignore him, Leliana straight up says we can get spies to harass the refugees (girl what), and Cullen’s response is to actually assist the refugees.
This how Lord Kildarn responds to Cullen:
Cullen’s perspective here is really easy to understand if you know his remaining family members are also refugees. I don’t think Cullen’s relationship with poverty (or the refugee crisis) is discussed enough in the game, or at least used to understand the rationale behind the decisions he makes at the war table. I see a lot of people poke fun at Cullen’s suggestions sometimes, especially in regards to nobility-related issues, the whole ‘Cullen is too stupid to understand the game’ but here’s the thing, he knows what the game entails (he says it himself) - he just doesn’t care.
His rash ‘not seeing the bigger picture’ war table decisions can honestly be easily understood as him having lived on the opposite side of these operations. Cullen probably doesn’t want to attend galas to convince ser so-and-so not to evict peasants from his land when he could just send a few soldiers to beat his door down. He cares about quick, straightforward action, not pleasantries. Mr ‘the templars never attended balls’. And that makes perfect sense given his background.
The ‘improving morale’ operation would’ve been such a good way to start a conversation with Cullen about life as a soldier, particularly one with limited means. I mean he’s speaking from experience there, and his recommendation of a good cook is received with more praise than Leliana or Josephine’s suggestions. There’s even that operation where Cullen’s like ‘no just give them a week paid off’. He knows the struggle.
An exploration of poverty could also come back and tie in with his experience as a Templar. Honnleath was a small Ferelden village, opportunities were likely incredibly limited, and you have to remember the Ferelden rebellion against Orlais was only around 10 years past when Cullen was born, so his parents grew up under the boot of the Orlesian occupation. Joining the templars was likely a very easy way to get a bed, education, and food - and the fact that they accepted Cullen as a child soldier? It's not a secret that the Templar order accepted recruits at infancy and then when hooked on Lyrium, there really is no way to leave, especially for someone as resource limited as Cullen.
It would’ve been super interesting to use Cullen that way, as a looking glass into the life of poor Fereldens - maybe seeing how that intersects with Sera’s character and arc? Or maybe additional dialogue at the Winter Palace, where his lineage is discussed aside from being just an offhand joke (about sexual harassment of all things)? Maybe a deeper look into the exploitation of labor by the Ferelden elite and royalty, the same ones we’re often forced to kiss ass to? How the lack of resources and opportunities lead people down Cullen’s path, literally being drugged and manipulated by the Chantry? Maybe an actual look into improving the lives of average people against wealthy nobles and royalty?
When you remember that Cullen is from a poor, commoner background it frames his decisions at the water table differently. Which makes sense, that's the point. He's there to represent the side of politics that are from the common perspective. Josephine and Leliana operate in the noble sphere and understand their ways, but they tend to forget that their methods won't always include the average layman. Cullen has to tell Josephine that rather than awarding medals, give the army food, money, and a day off. Which is understandable, they're meant to cover each others blindspots.
But you can tell his common background does color his relationship with Josie and Leliana. Josie finds his tastes 'common' and Leliania is willing to dismiss his annoyances in regards to the nobilities' interest in him if it means they can use his looks. It puts them at odds, clearly if Trepasser is any indication. They (and the game) tend to overlooking his distaste of Orlais because they were raised in the center of Orlasian culture, but Cullen was raised in the aftermath of the occuption; it only makes sense that his feeling towards the country are sour at best.
But DAI has this problem with class where it tends not to want to look directly at common folks. They'll be there, in the side lines, and when they're in the main cast, that part of their lives are either nicely placed in their background or it'll be used for jokes. Sera is the best look we have as the common person who talks about common problems, but we see how the game treats her.
I want to know where the Rutherford family exactly stood in terms of class. What grants a person a surname? Clearly they weren't serfs, so did they own their own farm or at least work on a loaned plot of land? He and Sera also differ in that he was from a village and not a city, so poverty woud be different in that regard to.
Mia's letter prove that the Rutherford siblings (or at least some of them) were educated to some extent and, I've said before, the likelihood is that they were taught by the Chantry. Clearly, his education is a sticking point for him because he gets defensive when Morrigan insults his intelligence, arguing to an amused Inquisitior that he's 'fairly well' read because of the Chantry's extensive library. It's pretty clear that while he was taught the basics, entering Templar training gave him access to that education.
He's obviously proud of his commoner background and refuses to be shamed for it, but he's well aware that he lucked out when he entered the Chantry. If this is how his peers (his friends) treat him for his 'simple' background, it goes with out saying the average common folk are all but fodder at times, irregardless of good intentions.
And Cullen knows that, he sees that, which is why he speaks up the way he does in the war room.
“Why do you even like Cullen” sorry was I supposed to not like the guy from the poor agricultural background whose family was under an oppressive occupation, was made refugees, now is disconnected from their village, and the guy in question hates nobility and royalty for playing with people’s lives and would rather beat their doors down than play pleasantries with the elite
this is why I love cullavellan bc I know despite the ~game politics he would understand lavellan.
it's why he's one of the ppl in the Inquisition who sees lavellan as a person vs this idol or hero regardless of whether or not you romance him
he already knew how much dalish vows meant to them when they got married. it's why to me he would respect and learn abt dalish culture for them
there's this like...weird thing within fandom that only lavellan goes with x and cullen should only romance y, so here's the beginning of my cullavellan manifesto send tweet
“Why do you even like Cullen” sorry was I supposed to not like the guy from the poor agricultural background whose family was under an oppressive occupation, was made refugees, now is disconnected from their village, and the guy in question hates nobility and royalty for playing with people’s lives and would rather beat their doors down than play pleasantries with the elite
I’ve honestly been thinking about it ever since I saw people joking about how Cullen is just ‘commander Cullen’ not commander Rutherford, something that separates him from people like Ambassador Montiliyet, Magister Pavus, Seeker Pentaghast, etc. and really thinking about it the obvious answer is that his name carries more power than his surname.
In this he actually has more in common with people like Leliana and Vivienne, two people who didn’t come from nobility and are identified with their occupation rather than heritage: Sypmaster Leliana (though Leliana also gets her alias Nightingale) and Grand Enchanter Vivienne. Though the character he probably has most in common with is actually Sera: they’re both from Ferelden, both from poor backgrounds, both orphaned, and both generally wary of magic.
If you read a lot of the war table missions, a lot of the disagreements Cullen has with the other advisors (aside from mage/templar issues) is related to nobility - one of the first operations you get is the ‘address a nobleman’s concerns’ about refugees in the hinterlands, the noble in question getting angry that some of the refugees are mages and elves.
Josephine’s suggestion is to just ignore him, Leliana straight up says we can get spies to harass the refugees (girl what), and Cullen’s response is to actually assist the refugees.
This how Lord Kildarn responds to Cullen:
Cullen’s perspective here is really easy to understand if you know his remaining family members are also refugees. I don’t think Cullen’s relationship with poverty (or the refugee crisis) is discussed enough in the game, or at least used to understand the rationale behind the decisions he makes at the war table. I see a lot of people poke fun at Cullen’s suggestions sometimes, especially in regards to nobility-related issues, the whole ‘Cullen is too stupid to understand the game’ but here’s the thing, he knows what the game entails (he says it himself) - he just doesn’t care.
His rash ‘not seeing the bigger picture’ war table decisions can honestly be easily understood as him having lived on the opposite side of these operations. Cullen probably doesn’t want to attend galas to convince ser so-and-so not to evict peasants from his land when he could just send a few soldiers to beat his door down. He cares about quick, straightforward action, not pleasantries. Mr ‘the templars never attended balls’. And that makes perfect sense given his background.
The ‘improving morale’ operation would’ve been such a good way to start a conversation with Cullen about life as a soldier, particularly one with limited means. I mean he’s speaking from experience there, and his recommendation of a good cook is received with more praise than Leliana or Josephine’s suggestions. There’s even that operation where Cullen’s like ‘no just give them a week paid off’. He knows the struggle.
An exploration of poverty could also come back and tie in with his experience as a Templar. Honnleath was a small Ferelden village, opportunities were likely incredibly limited, and you have to remember the Ferelden rebellion against Orlais was only around 10 years past when Cullen was born, so his parents grew up under the boot of the Orlesian occupation. Joining the templars was likely a very easy way to get a bed, education, and food - and the fact that they accepted Cullen as a child soldier? It's not a secret that the Templar order accepted recruits at infancy and then when hooked on Lyrium, there really is no way to leave, especially for someone as resource limited as Cullen.
It would’ve been super interesting to use Cullen that way, as a looking glass into the life of poor Fereldens - maybe seeing how that intersects with Sera’s character and arc? Or maybe additional dialogue at the Winter Palace, where his lineage is discussed aside from being just an offhand joke (about sexual harassment of all things)? Maybe a deeper look into the exploitation of labor by the Ferelden elite and royalty, the same ones we’re often forced to kiss ass to? How the lack of resources and opportunities lead people down Cullen’s path, literally being drugged and manipulated by the Chantry? Maybe an actual look into improving the lives of average people against wealthy nobles and royalty?
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