Always

oh 100%, they're immediately great friends in the rebel survivor au <3 the jedi boyfriend support group probably takes a bit longer

how rogue one probably goes in the rebel padmé/ galaxy's messiest divorce au

And an even quicker sketch with Cullen and Ennera ! Missed them a lot

Heyyyy but i can say it's for WIP Wednesday YAYYY girl so late she's on time

Mostly i think im mad that the writers fucked up the chance to take a guy who spent a long time turning a blind eye to and justifying a fucked up system of abuse, and actually have him held accountable for it

Instead of him just. Feeling kind of bad about it but not actually addressing it in a real way?

I mean, dont get me started on how Inquisition fumbled pretty much everything that happened in DA2 (the fact that there's no option for Hawke, Varric, or even the Inquisitor to agree with what Anders did? You can either condemn it or like... waffle around it?), but like. Cullen was actively looking the other way when Mages were getting whipped in the streets, SA'd and fucking lobotomised

The templars turned Kirkwall into a police state by the end of it, and all the writers have him saying is like "man, i feel bad :("

Cant believe im saying this, but Blackwall actually does have a better redemption arc than Cullen

I just

There is gold. Right there

They had a fucked up guy and completely squandered the opportunity to have him SO fucked up about the shit he's done

They still could've had their poor little meow meow of a commander! Just make him so much more fucked up about his mistakes man!

so let’s fucking recap. almost all of this is explicitly written into inquisition, and the rest can be inferred by a reasonably intelligent player.

he accepts command of a second broken circle after betraying his commander and (depending on player choices) allowing the apostate who blew up the chantry to walk out of kirkwall alive

i’m gonna need a source from DAI/asunder before you can claim mages were being “whipped in the streets, SA’d, or lobotomized” AFTER meredith was dead. most of the mages were GONE and the templars were off doing other things - such as laying brick and hammering nails

because despite having family alive in ferelden, cullen stayed in kirkwall for months/years after the explosion, leading cleanup/rebuilding efforts

(this despite, assuming the player didn’t side with the templars and annul the circle, not actually being named its knight-commander)

during that time, says he made an effort to keep as many templars gathered under his command so they didn’t go off indiscriminately murdering mages and using red lyrium

this is later confirmed by Rylen, sent from starkhaven to provide relief, who lauds cullen for basically doing the work no one else would

rightfully criticizes kirkwall’s rebel mages for abandoning their tranquil**

when cassandra extends her invitation to the inquisition, he immediately gives up lyrium at exceptional cost (painful, neurologically damaging withdrawal. for months) because being on the chantry’s lyrium leash is no longer something he can morally accept

leaves behind the only career he’d ever had or wanted, says the Templars have “nothing further to offer”

clearly bones up on military strategy after the disaster of being unable to protect haven (not his fault but he assumes it was) and subsequently runs what krem (ex tevinter soldier) calls a textbook siege of adamant fortress.

oh, and iron bull (ex qunari soldier and actual ben-hassrath) repeatedly compliments his command of the soldiers, but specifically because they’re well-disciplined (i.e. are expected to act with integrity)

rallies troops behind an inquisitor of any race, gender, or background. like. that is a FACT. this dork will obnoxiously stab the sky with that oversized sword for a qunari apostate just as enthusiastically as for a fellow templar warrior

treats maddox with compassion and genuine regret; and assuming your inquisitor requests it, he has soldiers retrieve maddox’s body from the shrine of dumat for proper burial

expresses regret for his prejudicial attitude toward mages and a resolution to examine his biases (“i shall try not to be so in the future”) and says he’s not proud of the man his experience at Kinloch made him

has a LITERAL meltdown in front of the inquisitor while in the throes of a withdrawal episode, at which point he asks the inquisitor (who may or may not be an apostate mage with an axe to grind) to decide if he should start taking lyrium again

caught between his desire to excel in his role and his horror of being reliant on the chantry/inquisition for lyrium again, but still so loyal to the inquisition that he leaves a matter of extreme personal autonomy to the one person (aside from cassandra, who is inadequately equipped to provide the support an addict would need) whom he feels must have a say in the matter. and again. if you say “take that shit,” he takes it. even knowing it will eventually lead to a painful, agonizing death.

during In Your Heart Shall Burn, speaks to allied rebel mage troops the same way he speaks to allied templar troops - with encouragement and clarity

does not refuse to send soldiers to support Quiz in redcliffe, or to work with the rebel mages, and his arguments against choosing redcliffe involve a COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED anxiety over the impossibility of being able to rescue the inquisitor if things go wrong with alexius because redcliffe castle is unassailable (we learn during hushed whispers that the inquisition’s military forces, i.e. cullen, spent MONTHS trying to get them out. he is absolutely right to worry about this possibility.)

although he does complain (not incorrectly! anybody remember that circle apprentice in Origins accidentally setting himself on fire in front of the future HOF? yeah) that some mages may need to be watched to ensure their magic is under control

HANGS OUT WITH KNOWN TEVINTER APOSTATE DORIAN PAVUS AND CLEARLY LIKES HIM

expressly pursues samson on a series of missions through the dales because samson is causing other lyrium-addicted templars (recruited in kirkwall while in a state of extreme vulnerability to rhetoric and the temptation of “even better” lyrium rations) to suffer excruciating pain and mental anguish, most of them before dying a horrible death, all to get revenge on the chantry by allying with corypheus

(please remember that at the point samson was recruiting templars to infect with red lyrium, cullen was recruiting them in his efforts to help rebuild homes damaged in an explosion that did, in fact, kill and maim hundreds of people.)

AND DESPITE ALL OF THAT: if instructed to do so, he will take on samson as an agent to help the inquisition. one must realize this would be a sort of personal hell for cullen. but he does it uncomplainingly and states that samson deserves the same second chance he himself got

exceptionally respectful towards blackwall as a soldier and servant of the people. later disgusted to find he’s a lying orlesian slut, but will let him live if the inquisitor says to***

if permitted to continue sobriety, sets up detox centers where other ex-templars can hack off their own lyrium leashes and leave behind chantry dogma and fear of magic

repeatedly states that the chantry/templars were supposed to protect mages along with “ordinary people,” but didn’t.

????? will literally marry a mage inquisitor if you let him.

As a reminder, the prompts are merely guidelines meant to inspire ideas, not strict requirements. You can interpret them as you wish, combine, or ignore them - as long as your submission is centered around sapphic ships, it's a perfect fit for the event!

Don't forget to use the tag #DASapphicWeek2025 or @ us in the post with your submission to get your work featured on the blog. Any event fics posted on AO3 can also be added to our collection.

For more information, please check out our FAQ.

I think it's the galactic orbit thing that really did me in