Julien was killed in battle with a high dragon. In an attempt to escape the darkspawn, the group had encountered the dragon and had great difficulty killing it. Duncan had jumped onto its back and succeeded in gravely wounding it with stabs to its neck. He was thrown off the dragon, however, and landed unable to move. Before the dragon could attack Duncan, Julien pulled him out of the way. In retaliation the dragon attacked Julien, throwing him through the air. Julien landed with a broken neck and was beyond Fiona's healing magic, as magic could not bring back the dead. Nicolas, and to a lesser extent Utha and Kell, blamed Duncan for Julien's death, as they considered the mounting of the dragon as a reckless move that forced Julien into harm's way. King Maric disagreed, and considered Julien's death a heroic sacrifice, allowing them to take advantage of Duncan bringing down the dragon. Unable to follow Chantry tradition in burning Julien's body, the party wrapped him in a cloak and allowed him to sink into an untainted underground lake.

Julien and Nicolas were always together and often kept to themselves. They obviously cared a great deal for each other; Julien had been very worried when Nicolas was injured during battle against the darkspawn. In Nicolas' dream within the Fade, during the party's encounter with a Sloth demon, Nicolas and Julien are living together as lovers in the woodlands of the Arbor Wilds south of Orlais. Nicolas reveals that they had been planning to do so for some time, hoping to spend the last few years together in peace before being forced to undertake The Calling. The party did not know whether Julien's spirit found its way to Nicolas in the Fade, or if he was merely a Fade apparition and part of the dream, as Julien did not recognize his former companions and first believed them to be bandits.