So what do you think of King Cailan?

I think with Cailan,what you see is what you get. Alistair is kind of the same, I guess.

Since Bioware said Dragon Age was heavily influenced by George Martin`s books, I am guessing Ostagar is their version of The Wall. The White Walkers have been gone for thousands of years, and start to emerge on the other side of the wall. Darkspawn has been away for a long time and suddenly emerge again. Massing on the other side of Ostagar`s walls.

 

He's naive. He's Alistair minus the harsh reality of being born/growing up a bastard. I wouldn't call him stupid, but he was foolish for trusting Loghain. Unlike Alistair he grew up loved by this father and his people, so up until that point he didn't have much reason to believe that the people he trusted would do something so drastic (forsake him in battle completely).
In Ostagar he also lacked Anora's counsel, and apparently she was supposed to be his guide when it came matters like these.

So basically he's spoiled, but well-intentioned instead of being a brat.

 

Cailan had no reason to distrust Loghain though. Nobody had, really. He had been a hero of his country for many years, and fiercly loyal.

 

to me, the whole thing seemed like bad leadership, if loghain had met he battle, was victory possible? I think loghain was right here, the whole thing other then treachery depended on a signal from a crumbling tower, the belief that the darkspawn were a smaller force and if the archdaemaon appeared, what then? a handful of grey wardens against the blight? the battle took place in a surrounded area, what if the darkspawn had larger numbers, reinforcements?

 

Don't forget that Cailan actually wanted to wait for reinforcements from Orlais. A legion of Chevaliers was on its way along with some Grey Wardens, but Loghain fiercely opposed the idea of allying with Orlais.

 

I wouldn't say nobody. People like Loghain who are fiercely loyal to a certain cause rarely aren't the zealot-type.

 

The reason why he was opposed to the orlesians joining is explained very well in the first Dragon Age book. Loghain and Maric are the main characters in it. That bit is his main motivation for doing what he does in the game as well.

 

To Loghain, accepting help from the Orlesians would be like a Jewish leader accepting help from the 3rd Reich.

 

A pity time didn't change his views much, he did manage to settle down and raise Anora at some point.

 

Shoshino hit the nail on the head.