Soul

A soul is an incorporeal essence of a living being. This concept is shared by all known Thedosian cultures. It is sometimes referred to as "spirit"Conversation with Wynne at Ostagar in Dragon Age: OriginsDragon Age (tabletop RPG), Game Master's Guide, set 3, p. 12Yavana claims that she can pin Claudio Valisti's spirit to his rotting body and make maggots eat his "essence" as they eat his flesh, protecting only enough of his soul to keep him aware. See Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, Chapter 6Codex entry: Third Legionnaire's JournalCodex entry: The Cardinal Rules of Magic (unlike a Fade spirit) or "essence".Codex entry: Baroness of the BlackmarshCodex entry: A Tradition of Rebirth
== Origin and nature ==
According to the Chant of Light, the Fade began as an "ocean of dreams" and was reduced to a well when the Maker used its "emerald waters",Codex entry: Here Lies the Abyss lyrium.Codex entry: Lyrium (Origins) He "took from the Fade a measure of its living flesh" and created men.Canticle of Threnodies 5 The Maker gifted them with the spark of the divine, a soulDragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide, Collectors Edition, "Extras". made of "dream and idea, hope and fear, endless possibilities."
While purpose and relevance are paramount to a spirit, experiences and memories thereof define a soul. Unable to taste life themselves, demons seek out the dreaming in the Fade and draw sustenance from their memories.According to Justice during Shadows of the Blackmarsh, see They copy and thus preserve frozen moments that form vast oceans in the Fade.Codex entry: Walking the Fade: Frozen Moments Powerful demons can outright steal memories of the dreaming, making the person forget certain events.Nightmare (demon), as revealed during Here Lies the Abyss
Races of Thedas devised various ways to store their experiences. Ancient elves recorded their memories in the Shattered Library before entering uthenera.Codex entry: Vir Dirthara: A Flowering Imago They developed close relationships with spirits, who acted as keepers of knowledgeArchivist and teachers.Codex entry: Vir Dirthara: Attentive Listeners As each servant of Mythal reached the end of their years, they would pass their knowledge on through the Well of Sorrows.According to Abelas at the end of What Pride Had Wrought. Some memories can be preserved with magic.Where Once We Walked Dwarves keep their Memories in lyrium. They also created objects known as memory crystals.
== Body and soul ==
In life the soul is tied to a mortal body and thus restricted to a specific form. A notable exception are shapeshifter mages, who can turn into animals. In order to learn each new form such a mage must copy a creature's soul.According to Morrigan in a dialogue with Shale. 
The mortal body needs sustenance and will eventually decay and die. One's years can be extended by the lashing of soul to a Fade spirit. The latter can be forcefully bound with blood magicZathrian and The Lady of the Forest, see or willingly provide the spark of life and remain a part of the soul.Wynne and Spirit of Faith, see her explanation in Dragon Age: Asunder, Chapter 14. Some elves in uthenera are said to have been able to reach "perfection" and draw sustenance from the Fade. Their bodies no longer required food or water.According to Felassan in Dragon Age: The Masked Empire A Witch of the Wilds prolonged the life of Xenon the Antiquarian, but his body decayed over time. Avernus was also able to unnaturally prolong his lifespan through blood magic and experimentation.
A part of the living essence or the soul in its entirety can be placed into an inanimate object. Thus a phylactery is a vessel, often a glass vial, containing the essence of a magical beingCodex entry: Phylacteries that is secured with blood magic.Codex entry: The Creation of a Phylactery A soul of an arcane warrior was trapped for centuries inside a phylactery found in the Brecilian Ruins.Broken Stone Altar Flemeth put a "small piece" of herself inside the amulet that Merrill used atop Sundermount to summon her.Long Way Home
Paragon Caridin created golems by placing a soul of a dwarf inside a stone body.Explained by Wynne in Dragon Age: Asunder, Chapter 9. See also the dialogue between Leliana and Shale. He killed a dwarf at the Anvil of the Void and encased their soul in a newly forged body with the use of lyrium.Codex entry: Caridin's Journal A magical, not mechanical, process animated the golem.Dragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide, p. 148
== Dreaming ==
When a person dreams, their soul temporarily leaves the body and passes into the Fade where it is free to assume any form. Dwarves do not dream and their souls are normally not to be found in that realm. If the souls of the dreaming are harmed or "killed", they return to their sleeping bodies and awaken before the moment of death.
It is possible to enter the Fade through one's mind with magic and remain lucid. Several mages may be required to perform the ritual, with their powers bolstered by lyrium or blood.Several mages and lyrium were needed in both The Arl of Redcliffe quest and in Dragon Age: Asunder; Jowan can peform the ritual alone if a human sacrifice is made. A single dreamer mage or even an ordinary mage using dreamer techniquesKeeper Marethari during the Night Terrors can perform the same feat. A soul of any individual can be sent into the Fade this way, including dwarvesKnown dwarves who visited the Fade mentally: Oghren during Broken Circle, Oghren and Sigrun during Shadows of the Blackmarsh, Varric Tethras during Night Terrors, dwarven Inquisitor, who has a conversation with Solas in a dream. and golemsShale is accidentally drawn into the Fade as a result of the ritual performed by Wynne, Adrian and Rhys in Dragon Age: Asunder. However the magic that keeps conscious minds in the Fade also prevents them from returning to their bodies, meaning that they may die in both realms There are known exceptions to this rule, when victims became Tranquil or simply woke up instead.Feynriel and Hawke's companions during the Night Terrors
== Trapped souls ==
Demons and some magesBaroness, Aurelian Titus can trap unfortunate souls in one of the Fade realms to feed upon them. Victims are bound to exist in an endless dream and are unable to return to their bodies until the captor is defeated. If they linger in the Fade for too long, their body will die.Niall in Dragon Age: Origins. Some souls choose to stay even when free to leave.Julien in Dragon Age: The Calling. Yet others appear to get trapped after their deaths.Katriel tells in Dragon Age: The Calling that Moira Theirin is "trapped in the Fade, living in an endless dream"; Maric tells in Dragon Age: Until We Sleep, part 3, that Rowan and Cailan have resided in the Fade since their deaths.Victims of the Baroness, as shown during Shadows of the Blackmarsh.
If a mage is overwhelmed by the demon, the latter can control and twist the body through the captive spirit like a puppet, resulting in an abomination in its most direct meaning.Dragon Age (tabletop RPG), Player's Guide, set 1, p. 48 When the demon is defeated in the Fade, the control is broken and the mage's state is reversed.Known examples: Connor in Dragon Age: Origins, Fiona in Dragon Age: The Calling, Pharamond in Dragon Age: Asunder. However, the soul is left scarred by the experience and never truly recovers.According to Marethari Talas during A New Path.
== Death and afterlife ==
The bond between spirit and physical body is generally broken upon death, though it may be preserved with magic Most cultures agree that souls of the dead pass through the Veil and enter the Fade. Even Fade spirits do not know what happens afterwards. They believe there is a place for those souls beyond, but the details are obscured from them.According to Justice in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, see and .
The Chantry teaches that the faithful rest at the Maker's side. Until the Golden City turned black, the spirits of the dead gathered in it. Since then they journey to a realm beyond the Fade to join the Maker instead.Dragon Age: Asunder, Chapter 4.
Nevarrans presume that when a soul crosses the Fade after death, it displaces a Fade spirit.
Avvar believe in an afterlife governed by "the Lady of the Skies" where the dead are reunited with their kin. They also hold that some souls are destined to be reborn in a new body instead with no memories of their past selves. The resurrected Avvar are assumed to be guided by previous experiences through visions and portents.
The Qunari call the Fade "the Land of the Dead". Entering this realm while still alive is forbidden by the Qun. Its tenets emphasize that existence is a choice, and one can refuse it.Codex entry: The Qunari - Asit tal-eb
Unlike all other races, dwarves believe that in death the spirits of the worthy return to and rest in the Stone after the words of a ritual are said.Stone Halls of the Dwarves They become the Ancestors who guide and care for their descendants for eternity as well as make the Stone stronger.
In ancient Tevinter, black pearls were believed to be able to stop the soul from passing through the Veil when held in the mouth at the moment of death.Codex entry: The Holy Brazier
== Lost souls ==
Some cultures maintain that not all dead are worthy of the afterlife. 
The Chantry teaches that the souls of sinners are left to wander in the Void, hopeless and forever lost.Dialogue#Leliana and Morrigan They return to the ether from which they were formed when they enter the Fade.Dragon Age (tabletop RPG), Player's Guide, set 1, p. 47 Folk beliefs in Ferelden and Orlais elaborate that a dead man can become lost on his way to the Maker's side and turn into a ghost, forever adrift in a land of shadow.Dragon Age: The Calling, Chapter 12 and Dragon Age: Asunder, Chapter 1.
Dwarves believe that in death the Stone rejects the unworthy souls of their kin. They are said to become rock wraiths, beasts of stone that wander the Deep without rest and feed upon lyrium veins.Dragon Age II: The Complete Official Guide, p.233Codex entry: Rock Wraith "Gangue" shades bound into the rock were once dwarves as well.According to Cole if present during The Tomb of Fairel.
Some sources claim that shades are unquiet spirits of the dead. They are lost souls that slipped from the Fade into the mortal world with no memories left of ever being alive.Dragon Age (tabletop RPG), Game Master's Guide, set 1, p. 34
== Tainted, soulless and immortal ==
Ordinary darkspawn are believed to be soulless.Codex entry: ArchdemonDragon Age II: The Complete Official Guide, p.258
Whenever their body is destroyed, the soul of an Archdemon or one of the MagistersCorypheus in What Pride Had Wrought passes to the nearest tainted creature, rendering them effectively immortal. The new body is then twisted into a preferred shape, though not necessarily instantly.Corypheus posed as Larius or Janeka at the end of Legacy (quest)
Taint is said to corrupt the very soul of those affected, including Magisters SiderealDragon Age (tabletop RPG), Game Master's Guide, set 2, p. 2, Old Gods turned into the ArchdemonsDragon Age: Last Flight, Chapter 5 and Grey Wardens who went through the Joining ritual.Dragon Age (tabletop RPG), Game Master's Guide, set 2, p. 32
== Notes ==
* Asala means soul in Qunlat. The Qunari also call distress caused by traumatic experience asala-taar, or "soul sickness". Tamassrans are tasked with curing it.
== References ==
Category:Religion