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Cullen Rutherford

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Character
Name: Cullen Rutherford
Occupation: Templar (formerly), Commander of the Inquisition
Relationships: Mia Rutherford (sister), Branson Rutherford (brother), Rosalie Rutherford (sister), The Inquisitor (wife - player determinant)
Fandom: Dragon Age
Other: voiced by Greg Ellis

Cullen by YoungGirlBlues
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Cullen Rutherford is a fictional character in the Dragon Age franchise. He has appeared in every game in the series, with his largest role being in Dragon Age: Inquisition, in which he is an advisor and possible love interest for female human and elf player characters.

Fandom

Pairings

Character Ship
Anders Anders/Cullen
The Inquisitor Cullen/Inquisitor
Cassandra Pentaghast Cullen/Cassandra
Dorian Pavus Dorian/Cullen
Raleigh Samson Cullen/Samson
The Warden Cullen/Warden

Common Tropes in Fanworks

I Will Endure by CinnaMinion. Cullen's addiction to lyrium, a magical drug, is a common element of fanworks.
  • Cinnamon Roll: Cullen is often characterized as shy, sweet, and awkward.
  • Dark!Cullen: Dark or morally ambiguous characterizations of Cullen are not uncommon. Such fanworks often focus on Cullen's years as a Templar, portraying him as cruel, tyrannical, and even sadistic toward the Circle mages under his charge. Frequent objects of Dark!Cullen's cruelty include The Warden and The Inquisitor. Some fanworks also explore AU scenarios in which Cullen became a Red Templar.
  • Redemption: Cullen's desire to atone for the errors of his past features in many fanworks. Fics set during the events of DA:I often focus on his dedication to the Inquisition. Cullen/Mage!Inquisitor fics often have him reckon with his participation in mage persecution through his relationship. Some post-canon works focus on his plan to set up a rehab facility for ex-Templars (something he does in some epilogues of the Trespasser DLC).
  • Substance Abuse/Recovery: Cullen-centric fanworks often focus on Cullen's addiction to lyrium or the difficulties of withdrawal after he decides to stop using it.
  • Unrequited Love: Cullen was in love with The Warden during his time at Kinloch Hold. He never acted on his feelings, however, as he felt it would be inappropriate. Some fics focus on this aspect of Cullen's history. This may involve him grieving for her if the author is writing a world state in which the Warden sacrificed her life to end the Fifth Blight.
  • Whump: Cullen has had a number of terrible experiences throughout his life. He was the sole survivor of the fall of the Circle of Magic in Ferelden, during which he was magically imprisoned and mind-raped by a demon. This caused him to be afflicted with nightmares afterward. Many fanworks focus on the lasting trauma of these experiences, or on the physical and psychological toll of lyrium withdrawal. It's also common for Cullen to be injured in fics, generally during the course of serving the Inquisition.

The Mess

(Not to be confused with a different iteration of Dragon Age Wank also known as The Mess, regarding the ship Fenders, where a group of anti-shipper fans forced artists into deleting their work.)

The Mess was a callout post on Tumblr by elffyness (also known as greenteabtch), isalavhenan​ (isayashai), bitchesofostwick​ (buchimgay) and cullenvhenan (pinayelf) created to discredit canon and different headcanons of fans regarding Cullen Rutherford, claiming certain fans were Anti-Black, Islamaphobic, and Anti-Indigenous.[1] The Mess is believed to have been born out of real world stress as well as fandom wank.[2]

Because yes, I’m going to call this drama and not racism. The people who authored “The Mess” had little to no factual-based interest in calling out racism. Because I do agree, there is a racism problem in fandom, especially in the Dragon Age fandom. It was just the way The Mess crew used “calling out racism” to air their displeasure and distaste over a canonically white cisgendered man and how his fans created content about him. It was all, frankly, bullshit.[3]

Although the post also mentions Fenris and Sten, their inclusion was seen as disingenuous by other fans (with some of the arguments used in the Fenders' Mess being reutilized again). Notoriously, the creator and supporters of The Mess tried to use their racial, religious and neurodivergent backgrounds, as well as gender and sexuality, in order to gain sympathy from other fans in lieu of proof of their accusations, until the people they accused were forced to share their similar status.[4]

Apparent support by a BNF left many worried about aftershocks, even when The Mess had been discredited.[5]

All this caused many OG Dragon Age fans (not just Cullen fans) to delete their art and fic, purge their accounts and change their internet handles, leading many to simply leave the fandom and erase their presence from it completely. Several OG BNF have barely left proof of their presence. The exodus was thought to be a result of the Cullen Mess, the Fenders Mess and Tumblr's NSFW ban. Deleted works have been archived by individual fans, but aren't freely shared, either because of a creator's request, or fear of repercussions.

The creators of The Mess doubled down several times and eventually changed their handles to have a fresh start in the DA or a different fandom.[6]

Fanworks

Fan Art

Fanfiction

Meta

Cosplay

Gallery

Fanart

  • Cullen by Daniela Barisone

    Cullen by Daniela Barisone

  • Cullen Portrait by Amber Brantley

    Cullen Portrait by Amber Brantley

  • Strength by Taylor Cobb – Tarot card with an out-of-frame Inquisitor touching Cullen's face.

    Strength by Taylor Cobb – Tarot card with an out-of-frame Inquisitor touching Cullen's face.

  • Tarot card by Eamikkir with an out-of-frame Inquisitor embracing Cullen.

    Tarot card by Eamikkir with an out-of-frame Inquisitor embracing Cullen.

  • Cullen Rutherford by ellieshep

    Cullen Rutherford by ellieshep

  • Lionheart by Emorenji

    Lionheart by Emorenji

  • Cullen Rutherford by g-ivanov

    Cullen Rutherford by g-ivanov

  • Sad lion by hellenys

    Sad lion by hellenys

  • Cullen by hyena-smile

    Cullen by hyena-smile

  • Cullen by Liedeke

    Cullen by Liedeke

  • Knight Commander by KuraNova – Dark AU art envisioning Cullen as a Red Templar.

    Knight Commander by KuraNova – Dark AU art envisioning Cullen as a Red Templar.

  • Aftermath by Nazgullow

    Aftermath by Nazgullow

  • Cullen by Nifriel

    Cullen by Nifriel

  • Cullen Stanton Rutherford by Nifriel

    Cullen Stanton Rutherford by Nifriel

  • Cullen Rutherford by Noweria

    Cullen Rutherford by Noweria

  • Cullen Approaching by oblivionscribe

    Cullen Approaching by oblivionscribe

  • Dawn by ReelLifeJaneway2

    Dawn by ReelLifeJaneway2

  • Vigilance by ReelLifeJaneway2

    Vigilance by ReelLifeJaneway2

  • Cullen by YoungGirlBlues

    Cullen by YoungGirlBlues

  • "The Dawn Will Come", Cullen and a female Lavellan Inquisitor by Goldkit (2020)

    "The Dawn Will Come", Cullen and a female Lavellan Inquisitor by Goldkit (2020)

Cosplay

  • A genderbent Cullen cosplay by EiliseRose

    A genderbent Cullen cosplay by EiliseRose

  • Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

    Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

  • Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

    Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

  • Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

    Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

  • Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

    Female!Cullen by EiliseRose

  • VUNoxcraft (costume), the.only.vu (model)

    VUNoxcraft (costume), the.only.vu (model)

Archives and Links

References

  1. ^ No beating around the bush: This is a call out post. by elffyness on Tumblr, Archived on Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "(...) Now, personally my theory is that, due to the stress of the last four+ years (...)" by visceralcoma on Tumblr
  3. ^ https://visceralcoma.tumblr.com/post/634913796931174400/hello-i-was-wondering-if-there-is-a-summary-of
  4. ^ "(...) Of the five of us I named for speaking out against the callout, four of us are BIPOC. (...)" post visceralcoma by on Tumblr
  5. ^ "A fairly “famous” tumblr user was asked about it and either hadn’t seen most of the debunking or purposefully didn’t even bother to read it through and just gave a blanket statement that it was a good callout and in response to the blow back, tagged it as Klandom toward a Jewish fan." by visceralcoma on Tumblr
  6. ^ "(...) What followed was a few weeks of relative fandom peace, and then someone would make a post similar to the mess (...)." by visceralcoma on Tumblr
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