uh, so: the hawkes flee ferelden directly after loghain’s betrayal at lothering, and when they arrive at the gallows, the guards say kirkwall has been taking in refugees “for months.”
uh. the significance of that particular point in time just occurred to me, specifically in relation to the gallows itself.
because alistair and the warden are happily pelting around ferelden right this moment with a newly liberated morrigan, an adorable zombie granny, a tal-vashoth sten, a mabari, a nun/bard, and a sexy, sexy antivan crow, right? and one of the places they may be present in… is kinloch hold.
….the gallows may be a horror show but say a prayer for the future knight-captain, lads. he’s currently off being extensively tortured right this minute by blood mages in a different circle tower!
either that or he’s locked up in a chantry to “recover.” for like. a hot second. how long does it take before hawke meets cullen in kirkwall? two, three years? not long enough.
(god, it explains so much about act one cullen, though. trying to act like he knows how to be a knight-captain. and he’s like, all of twenty-two years old, still dosing with holy cocaine and dealing with horrific ptsd. shaking my fist at meredith stannard)
one year. hawke is in kirkwall for one year & change and still saving up for the deep roads venture when she receives the opportunity to check on the wounded coast for a missing templar, and first meets brand-new knight-captain cullen stanton rutherford.
i mean no wonder the guy is trying new intimidation tactics that nearly get him killed and falls back to repeating dogma when confronted with opinions on mages!!! he’s practically a fuckin teenager!
fresh from a nightmare-inducing trauma at ferelden circle, wants to impress his absolutely terrifying knight-commander
and the stakes are SUPER high because not only did she specifically import him to kirkwall to specifically imbue him with a fear & hatred of mages in order to take her spot….. but he also took his vows like, two years ago & older templars resent it, his parents died in the Blight & he undoubtedly doesn’t even know where his siblings went yet. he is reliant on the templars for lyrium and alone in a strange city. obeying the knight-commander’s orders without question is literally his only option.
and now the recruits he’s meant to be training and protecting (some of whom may be older than him????) are going missing and he’s worried they’re dead or in thrall to blood mages
worst of all, now he’s made a complete tit of himself in front of a pretty girl with a big sword. and her judgy friends
:(
what the hell do people expect of cullen in this game???? he is NOT having a good time. poor ferelden dingus
