#Cullenmance

[cullenssweatyballsakk]

I feel like we need to talk about how insane it was that Cullen was an entire SOLDIER at 19

I know that the time period allowed it, and you still can be in the army at 19 today, but BRO

Lil dude shoulda been playing cod and working at Pizza Hut or sumn shit, not being permanently traumatized

[kmackatie]

A moment, at the end.

I recently commissioned t/nomiiart @nomiiart for this wonderful art of my Inquisitor Kari and Cullen to celebrate finishing Dragon Age: Inquisition!

[weaveandwood]

No Cullen romance card? I'll make one myself!

[triaelf9]

Countdown to DAtV, day 12!

A lil two page comic I did back in the day about fighting together in the Arbor Wilds. Since there was no way to interact in game, I did a little something for that moment ^_^

f you want to join in on the Countdown hashtag, share a DA creation of yours that you've been wanting to repost! Let's share our old creations to get hyped for the new game!

[animezinglife]

I can’t stop thinking about how Cullen's nephew probably already idolizes him and is completely starstruck when he realizes his uncle's wife is the Inquisitor. He's not entirely sure what that means, but he's heard of her, knows she's a leader like his uncle, and knows it's a big deal.

How wide his eyes probably get when he connects the dots on the fact that also means the Inquisitor is now his aunt.

And they have a dog?!

[pinayelf]

Cullavellan enjoyers pls share your Lavellan and Cullen ❤️

I'll start, here's my Lavellan, Imryll or "Immy" and Cullen 🫶🏽

[singing-telegram]

Greg Ellis being a transphobe isn't the only reason I don't want to see Cullen in Veilguard. The man has been through enough, let him rest. The I'd want to see is a letter saying something to the effect of "damn, that sucks. Wish I could help, but I'm retired with my dog and my wife. Peace and love. CR"

[theluckywizard]

Commander Cullen Rutherford

Update: I clothed him. 🥰

Started this morning while waiting for a car inspection to finish. Hair is still my least favorite 🫠

[thisiskatedee]

“When the time comes, you will be thrown into his path again. Andraste preserve me, I must send you to him.”

A little ramen noodle head boy from DAI for y��all

Swordtember piece from this year. The prompt was candle 🕯️

[chasing-ghosts-silhalei]

A tender little one-shot cuddle that turns slightly spicy

Nothing official

While their legs tangled beneath the sheets, her arm curled around the back of Cullen’s head to pull him close. 

He blushed with a soft smile and nuzzled his face under hers while her plush lips tenderly pecked his forehead with delicate kisses time and again. 

“You are so brave,” she murmured against him between her lips’ soft caresses, “So strong. I’m so proud of you.” 

While she slowly peppered him with tender kisses, his heart swelled with a blend of warm pride and cold sorrow. To hear such things from the most amazing woman in all of Thedas. His arms tightened around her and all but pulled her directly into his heart. 

A soothing wave of joy washed through him as her fingers lovingly flowed across the stubble of his cheek and back through his hair and his smile widened. She deserved so much more than he could ever give her. 

Cullen pulled back and delicately trailed his fingertips over her beautiful face while he gazed into those stunning eyes. He would give this living goddess the moons themselves, if he could. 

His lips gently connected with hers, which earned a soft gasp and a spike of need shot through him. He sighed against her lips, then they kissed each other with a hunger that steadily increased. 

[cullenssweatyballsakk]

I accidentally made the poll too short but please tell me anyway!!!

[redpool]

With the Inquisitor set to show up in Dragon Age: The Veilguard and with the continued romance thing, I don't know what I want to do because we don't know if Cullen is even going to show up in the game for one, so really the only options that I can think of Dorian because we're in Tevinter and Solas for added angst to the story.

[weaveandwood]

I finished the main part of Dragon Age Inquisition tonight and it’s so bittersweet. I LOVE this game so much, and I am going to be sad to leave my Inquisitor, Brinni, behind (even though I still need to do Trespasser). Her and Cullen have such a good romance, I can’t wait to share what I’ve written for it.

[triaelf9]

Countdown to DAtV, day 25!

Aww, the Take My Hand series I did way back when was so fun. This is the final one in the series and I still love the shading in this one ^_^

If you want to join in on the Countdown hashtag, share a DA creation of yours that you've been wanting to repost! Let's share our old creations to get hyped for the new game!

[animezinglife]

Headcanon

Once everything's said and done and the Inquisitor and Cullen finally have some time to settle, their friends get them late wedding/housewarming gifts.

One is particularly amusing: a box from Leliana labeled, "Kindling."

Cullen is not allowed to use it as such until his wife has read every single one of the ridiculous Orlesian marriage inquiries/proposals it contains. On occasion, she finds a particularly good or forward one and reads it aloud, leaving him flustered and grumbling.

[lyriumlullaby-ao3]

hello i’m back from the dead (sleeping) and it’s time to talk about

why Cullen won’t let anyone fix the hole in his ceiling 💖

someone has probably said this before but it wasn’t me, so here we go!

so remember that Ser Cullen Stanton Rutherford of Honnleath grew up with three siblings, who he describes as being “very loud.” i see him as always being a very disciplined child, kind and warm and willing to let Mia take charge (because fighting her for it would have been useless), but a steadfast follower with a keen sense of justice and fairness, willing to voice his objections when he had any, and very fastidious about not breaking rules when Mia or Branson tried to stir up trouble. you know, that whole second child archetype. he was prone to a bit of escapism, running off to that pier on some lake which is definitely not in Crestwood, which tells us he likes having somewhere to escape to, somewhere to run if he gets overwhelmed.

skipping forward a bit, when he lived in Kirkwall, he had quite a bit of freedom to come and go physically, but to me at least it seems like he felt trapped by his duties under Meredith. he explicitly describes her keeping things from him, things she thought he’d disagree with as her second in command. he felt lied to, deceived, manipulated by her (bc he was), i think, even before the events at the end of DA2 that expose her for what she is. can you imagine that feeling? like he actually wants to do good, to treat the mages fairly and help keep them and everyone else safe (that’s why he signed up, after all), but he’s got this nasty, evil commanding officer who’s whispering in his ear, twisting all that good intention to do her malicious bidding. it must have felt like beating his head against a brick wall, like no matter what he did, his sincere desire to believe that other people are fundamentally good disappointed him. i always say that Meredith gave Cullen just enough rope to hang himself with.

jumping forward again, let’s talk about the Winter Palace. Cullen is very obviously uncomfortable there, and it makes sense why: he can’t leave, not without being extraordinarily rude, can’t get away from the people bothering and sexually harassing him, can’t get out of that jacket that is too damn tight. if you bring Cole with you, at one point in his ‘Investigate’ tree he comments that, “Cullen is afraid. They’re hurting him, following fear. He shouldn’t be here.”

all of this is just to illustrate: man’s got a Thing about feeling trapped, stuck, unable to fight back or defend himself or just flat out leave. and why does he have such a hard time with this?

because of that one time that Uldred blew up the Circle at Kinloch Hold in Ferelden. for reasons we don’t fully grasp, rather than being claimed by the demons or simply killed in the fighting, Cullen held out. he resisted demonic possession completely, somehow, and was instead trapped within that magical prison with no possibility of escape, probably for weeks. no escape from his hunger, thirst, or lyrium withdrawal, and no escape from the (probably Desire) demon(s) that tortured him with freedom if he’d only give in to those things he won’t quite allow himself to want.

so the fact that there’s a hole in his ceiling, even months into the repairs at Skyhold, when almost everything else has been fixed but a few, hard-to-access bits of masonry, is not lost on me. and sure, you could always blame it on lighting for the romance scene that takes place up there. but i like to think that it’s there because Cullen refuses to let them fix it. here’s why:

Cullen doesn’t like to stray far from his post. he likes that there’s a loft with a bed where he can pretend to sleep that’s not far from his desk, where he commands the lives of thousands of people. (i think at one point in Absolution, it’s revealed that at its height, the Inquisition was composed of ~10,000 troops, plus all the necessary support personnel.) the fate of the world is quite literally depending on his ability to do his job, and when the lyrium withdrawals make him feel like he must be losing his mind, he likes that he’s got an easy choice between resting (like he knows he probably should) or working (like he knows he really needs to), separated only by a little wooden ladder and a few planks that make up the floor.

he needs that little hole in the ceiling. if ever something happened at Skyhold, and it wasn’t safe or possible to leave through the three fucking doors on the lower level, he needs a back up plan, a way to get out from the top of that tower, or he’s every bit as trapped as he was at the Winter Palace, or by Meredith, or by Uldred and his demons, and he can’t be, not here, not with so many lives in his hands. not after Haven.

he needs it when he wakes up shouting, drenched in sweat, from another nightmare where he’s back there, trapped with demons who’ve murdered or enslaved your brothers and sisters and are trying to break you next, or pinned under Meredith’s thumb, doing things that he knows are wrong, he knows, but she’s his commanding officer and he trusts her, so how wrong can they really be? he needs it, first thing when he opens his eyes, to know he’s got an escape route, a backup plan. he’s safe.

and when he finally gives in to temptation, that thing he wants more than anything that he really shouldn’t let himself want, when the Inquisitor confesses that she wants to be with him when this is all over and he very dramatically sweeps aside everything on his desk, his whole life, shattering it all over the floor, he needs that little patch of sky to remind him it’s real. he’s free to leave whenever he needs to.

and that’s what allows him to stay.