The Chantry uses their lyrium for a test called the Harrowing for all Circle of Magi members, to disable mages by removing their magical connection to the Fade using a lyrium branding technique known internally as the Rite of Tranquility, and - finally - to maintain Templar addiction to the substance for long term obedience. It becomes clear throughout the Dragon Age games that the Chantry has dominance over the entire lyrium trade, despite dwarves being the only group capable of safely mining and refining the substance. In many ways, itвЂ™s horrific that substance use like this be so ingrained in Templar life, but this is not a side-effect of their calling - it is a feature. Not dissimilar in some ways to the performance enhancing chemicals used on soldiers in Vietnam. It also gives them more boldness and power in combat. While mages use lyrium to enhance spells and rituals, Templars ingest this mineral to enhance their ability to resist and dispel magic. The Templars posture as holy knights, yet their Order has insidious practices towards both mages and its own members which all come back to the use of lyrium. They are charged with hunting apostate and rogue mages, defeating demons, and watching over the mages researching magic within the Circle of Magi.

The Templars are the military arm of the Chantry, the most prominent religious order in Thedas. Who are the Templars and why are they abusing harmful substances? Why would substance use be a part of the Templar OrderвЂ™s culture? Why is it that the Inquisitor has any say over CullenвЂ™s path to recovery? CullenвЂ™s Lyrium Kit вЂ“ Dragon Age: Inquisition As the Inquisitor, you have the option to either encourage him to fight this addiction or go back on lyrium. In fact, Cullen made an agreement with your squad-mate Cassandra to be removed from duty should he become a liability. His degree of inner turmoil isnвЂ™t fully apparent until he admits to you that heвЂ™s been weaning himself off an addiction to lyrium. ItвЂ™s clear, however, the events in Kirkwall changed the way he saw both the order and its treatment of the mages.

The Templars were in active conflict with the mages and he did not seem like the type to walk the middle road. The last person I expected to see commanding the InquisitorвЂ™s forces in Dragon Age: Inquisition was Cullen. When she dissolves the Circle of Magi in Kirkwall (effectively sentencing all mages to death) it is Cullen who orders her to step down.

The red lyrium in her sword has shaped her into a homicidal authoritarian. As the years pass, he comes to believe that Meredith is leading his order down the wrong path. Unlike his portrayal in the first game, Cullen is idealistic about the Templar OrderвЂ™s ability to win the hearts and minds of the city and quell rising tensions between the discontent mages and the Chantry. Cullen in captivity вЂ“ Dragon Age: OriginsД¬ullen was next sent to the Circle of Magi in Kirkwall, the setting of Dragon Age II, wherein he was promoted to second-in-command to Knight-Commander Meredith. I didnвЂ™t expect him to show up again in any future capacity. When you later visit the Circle of MagiвЂ™s tower, Cullen can be found trapped by some blood mages and politely asks you to kill all the mages within - in case any were secretly blood mages. His job was to strike you down if you came out of that вЂњtestвЂќ as an abomination. When we are first introduced to Cullen, heвЂ™s a Templar witness to the Harrowing your protagonist survives in Dragon Age: OriginsвЂs magi origin. I had at one point written off this Templar until I noticed he kept showing up in Dragon Age games, each time being a little more relevant to the plot and underscoring the plights of the Templar Order, most notably substance abuse.Дragon Age is a fantasy RPG centred on the continent of ThedasвЂ™s hostile politics, a recurrent demonic plague known as вЂњThe Blight,вЂќ and - most notably - the conflict between the mages and their keepers, the Templar Order. Cullen Rutherford is not a traditional NPC. You need them to build out the world and provide stakes to the narrative, but more often than not they wonвЂ™t bring much outside of side-quests to the table. NPCвЂ™s, or non-playable characters, are typically the filler of the RPG sausage.

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