i have a feeling this might be one of my more contentious bits of meta, but - cullen positive!
i just think... i understand why people don't like him and a lot of it is fine, but i feel like there's also some misunderstandings or oversimplifications going around
as an organization, yes! as individuals, no! templars are like horrible magic cops, that's bad, but we have to keep in mind that a lot of them - including alistair, including cullen - were given over to the chantry when they were very young and indoctrinated into becoming templars. some join later in life and those i take more issue with, but the ones who were given over to it young? i find it hard to blame them for becoming templars
second: it's a religious calling.
there's a huge amount of religious/cultural pressure to conform to chantry teachings, and this is the way someone who's not cut out to be a chantry member can still conform and gain social standing and respect. there's also the strong chantry pressure of Mages Are Bad, Actually, so the templars are seen as something of a divine protector of the innocent. obviously this is fucked up and inaccurate, but it's worth noting that the pressure and social gains are real, and that even lower-class citizens seem able to become templars. and if someone was only good at fighting, had little to no educational background, and still wanted to support themselves or their family? what are their choices? become a mercenary, criminal, or become a templar.
after they take their vows, they're given their first draught of lyrium. so... let's look at this critically for a second. children given over, taught that mages are bad, that templars are good, that the chantry is good, that the chantry teachings are real, and that their faith would be rewarded. they're even schooled by the chantry, so they have little to no access to any points of view outside of it. then, if appropriate, they're asked: do you want to be a templar? and if they say yes, if they take their vows, they're given a drug that creates a profound dependency.
fourth: okay, but this was supposed to be about cullen?
and it is! bc cullen turned his back on all that. i'm not saying he didn't make mistakes - he's not saying he didn't make mistakes, horrible ones! but meredith lied to him in order to keep him committed, because she knew he wouldn't approve of what she was doing.
on a personal level, he was: indoctrinated into a cult (yeah i'm calling the chantry/the templar order a cult bc it is); tortured by the exact thing he was taught to fear and revile; following that torture, tried once again to return to the one thing he knew how to do and was deceived and led astray by a brutal commander who he wouldn't have followed if he'd known what was happening. and what did he do with all that?
he turned away. he rejected it. he rejected a large part of his upbringing, his sociocultural heritage, his faith, his indoctrination - and, oh yeah, his addiction. as a recovering addict, i find his story frankly amazing. he's willing to die to distance himself from what he now knows the templar order to be.
and cole mentions that cullen is one of the good ones when you ask him about templars. cullen has a lot of shit to unpack and a lot of trauma around magic and mages, and he's been cruel and contributed to a brutal system, but he's also grown a lot. like... it must have been so hard. he rejected everything. and sure, now he's serving the inquisition, another facet of the chantry, but even then... it's not the same, not at all. for one, the inquisition and the chantry are constantly at odds.
so he rejected everything he was taught, everything he was trained in, all that his significant trauma taught him, and the pull of addiction. he's changing himself. he's learning and growing. he's catching the remains of his own prejudice. again: if you don't like him, that's fine, i get it. he's far from perfect. but i really appreciate characters who take it upon themselves to question their beliefs, to grow and learn and change.
