Before he became known as the Iron Bull, he was a brilliant agent of the Ben-Hassrath. Hunting down spies, rebels, deserters - the Iron Bull did it all. However, by 9:40 Dragon, the Iron Bull had burned out and was reassigned to Orlais where he founded the Bull's Chargers mercenary company on orders of the Ben-Hassrath. The Iron Bull uses his mercenaries to gather information on Orlesian nobles, feeding the intelligence to the Ben-Hassrath. Though he still reports to his old masters, time in Orlais led to something of an identity crisis for the Iron Bull.

He remains in command of the Bull's Chargers, though spends much of his time drinking, sleeping around, and overindulging - all clear violations of the Qun. Despite his unusually friendly demeanor and lax attitude to his philosophy, the Iron Bull still has a loyalty to the Qun which dies hard. He does not proselytize, but neither does he apologize for his way of life.