Cole/Dialogue

Cole's dialogue contains a list of conversations he has with his companions.
== Conversation with Cole ==
:* Inquisitor: What's your general opinion of templars?
:* Cole: Some like hurting mages. It makes them happy or less afraid or... Dreams again, woke up shaking. Stalking the grounds looking for one who looks like her. Always some rule being broken. But not all templars listen when the whispers crawl around inside them. They try to protect people. Like Cullen. The good ones remember that mages are people.
* Inquisitor: Can you tell me more about how the templars feel to you?
:* Cole: They feel older than they look. They've been changed, and their bodies are incomplete now. The lyrium helps, but their bodies always want to connect to... something older. Bigger than they are. That's why they block magic. They reach for that other thing, and magic has no room to come in. 
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:* Inquisitor: Can you tell me more about how the red templars are different?
:* Cole: The red lyrium is different, darker. Daggers under the skin. It eats you inside until you're nothing. They hear a different song. The song behind the door old whispers want opened. They are dead and dark and done.
== Cole's remarks ==
* (Upon entering the Fade) 
:* Cole: No, no no no no. This is the Fade, but I'm stuck. I can't... why can't I... ? 
:* Cole: This place is wrong. I made myself forget when I made myself real, but I know it wasn't like this.
* (Upon entering the Fade)
:* Cole: Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wringing me out. Wrought right and rigid. Can't relax. Can't release...
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* (Conversing with the Nightmare)
:* Nightmare: Are you afraid, Cole? I can help you forget. Just like you help other people. We're so very much alike, you and I.
:* Cole: No.
* (Encountering Fearlings for the first time)
:* Cole: Small fears, too small to shape the Fade themselves. Clinging to the Nightmare. Feeding on the bits it leaves behind.
:* Hawke: And they take the form of spiders, something so many fear.
:* Sera: Didn't see no spiders. I'd have taken bloody spiders.
:* Cole: They want your fear, so they look how you feel.
:* Sera: So... it's in my head? Knowing is not helping!
* (Upon seeing the Nightmare) You won't hurt my friends!
== Location Comments ==
Cradle of Sulevin
* (Entering the area)
** Inquisitor: So this is where the Sulevin Blade was lost.
** Cole: Lots of things are lost here.
* I like how the sun goes through the leaves.
Crestwood
* (Approaching the flooded lake) It sounds different. The water changes the song.
* (In the Mayor's old house) The mayor dreams about this place. Shock and shame and hurt. I don't know why. 
* (When reinforcements arrive during High Stakes, if the Inquisitor sided with the templars) Venatori. Hungry, hateful ready to hurt people. And they're afraid. They should be.
* They want to go home. That's why they take the bodies. 
* (Approaching Caer Bronach) They're frightened inside. Trapped by the walls that protect them. 
* (After draining the lake) 
** Inquisitor: The mayor said Darkspawn destroyed these controls ten years ago. Who repaired them? 
** Cole: The mayor. His shame had this shape.
* (When sighting the dragon) She's very big. 
* (Fighting Snowball) So many legs. 
* The people in Crestwood need help. 
* It's better that the bodies are burned. The spirits don't think they belong. 
* (Flooded Caves, finding the family of nugs)
** Inquisitor: The nugs seem to like it down here
** Cole: It's quiet. They like the quiet. 
** Cole: Dwarves used to trap them, but they don't remember the dwarves. 
** Cole: Even dwarves don't really remember the dwarves.
** (If the Inquisitor is a dwarf)
** Inquisitor: Are you saying I don't recall myself?
** Cole: Yes? No. Sorry?
** (If you kill a nug) It wasn't doing anything!
Emerald Graves 
* I like trees. Trees don't hurt people.
* This is better than war.
* If you listen, you can hear it all reaching for the sun.
* (Approaching Southfinger Tower) There was a lady in the tower. She cried, but no one heard. 
* (Beginning Motherly Encouragement) She loved her mother.
*(Upon finding Troilus Hertubise's corpse) He wanted to help. Like me.
Emprise du Lion 
* The air smells like rocks.
* A rock could roll for a long time here.
* How do they get so big?
* (Approaching the boat) Get to the boat, Get to the boat, they won't catch me on water, get to the boat. She didn't get to the boat.
* (Approaching the boat) There she is. It was like going to sleep.
* (Near red lyrium) It sings... sick music.
*(Near red lyrium) It creeps into your thoughts, humming.
* (Suledin Keep, seeing the Infected Giant corpse in the cell) They want to be big, to kill everything.
*I like the mountains. They're quiet.
Exalted Plains
* Why did they have to fight?
*Everyone hurts.
* Too many people hurting, harming, hacking open a hole for the demons to pour in.
* (Approaching the Dalish camp) They keep coming back, searching, seeking, sad, but home is gone.
* (Approaching the Desolate Bank) I've never been swimming.
* (At the broken bridge) Do we have to swim?
* (On finding Valorin during Someone to Lose) Blade bites the arms, whispers from a laughing spirit. I'll show them. They'll see how strong I can be.
*(At the Crow Fens) So many eyes peering from underneath.
Fade
* (During Here Lies the Abyss) They still remember when they were higher, before it woke up and everything fell.
Fallow Mire 
* The mud wants my feet to stay.
* So many old songs under the water.
* This is like the Fade, but wetter.
*(After seeing burning bodies)
** Inquisitor: (Coughs) Quite a smell.
** Cole: They died faster than villagers could burn them. Then no one was left to burn.
Forbidden Oasis 
* Digging and delving like dwarves. Do they hear the old song, too?
*(At the door to Solasan) I'm afraid. It wants us to be afraid.
*(After opening a sarcophagus) 
**Cole: Did that hurt?
**Inquisitor: I feel a bit strange.
**Cole: You're shinier, but not where everyone can see.
Hinterlands
* (Near the burning cart with corpses in Lady Shayna's Valley) They wanted something. Then they wanted to live. Then they wanted to die without hurting more.
Hissing Wastes
* The sky is so... big.
* There's sand in my shoes again.
* Something bit me!
* It's so cold. Why isn't there snow?
* Look at all the stars. Their light is very far away. Some of them are gone.
** Solas: Vast but still. Does it bother you, how different it looks than the sky in the Fade?
** Cole: At first, I didn't remember. Now I just want to forget.
** Vivienne: The creature has more riddles for us, it seems.
** Cole: It isn't a riddle. I can say what I mean without you understanding.
** Dorian: I'm not even going to pretend to know what you mean.
** Cole: It's alright. They can't hurt you.
* (After establishing a fourth camp)
**Inquisitor: Are the Venatori hiding everywhere in this desert?
* Cole: Yes. Their god wants them to, and they want him to be him. 
* (If the red templars are your main enemy)
* Cole: It's very big. 
* Inquisitor: What could the red templars want here?
* Cole: The red templars like the cold. It makes the red less angry.
Shrine of Dumat
* This is a sad place, filled with old pain. People spoke here, and something listened, until it didn't.
Storm Coast
* "One by one they follow me, laughing, drowning, into the sea." The rest of the poem is sad.
**Dorian: And it started out so well.
**Blackwall: But the start was so cheery.
* So much water. Where does it go?
* The temples have a lot of keys. They all sing, but never the same song.
* I thought there would be more storms.
* It's quiet.
* It's very wet.
*(Daerwin's Mouth)
**Cole: They didn't get to say goodbye.
**Inquisitor: What do you mean?
**Cole: A templar at Therinfal Redoubt. He wanted to make the world safe for his daughter. Then he turned red inside.
**Cole: She doesn't know.
*(Dragon Island) It's like looking at the world from the other side. Far away but real.
* (While standing by Gatt during Demands of the Qun)
**Cole: Heart hammering, brush of breath at the base of my back. He licks his thumb before turning the page.
**Cole: He never finished. You don't have a demon inside you. You don't have to wonder anymore.
**Gatt: Stop. Just... stop.
**Bull: Cole, knock it off. People who follow the Qun get nervous around demons, remember?
**Gatt: Bull, how can you work with a demon?
**Bull: He's all right.
Western Approach 
* The darkspawn are below us. A long way, but still singing.
* The song never sang for them. They were lucky.
* Wait, he says. I can still work, I don't need any food. The guard laughs, the blade comes down.
* It's thin here. Spirits were here even without the rifts.
* Very old voices. I can barely hear them.
* (During Frederic's Livelihood) Frederic ordered a tea kettle, and it never arrived.
* (Approaching Death Drink Springs) The air hurts. I have to stop.
* (Summoning the Abyssal High Dragon) She's coming.
* (Summoning the Abyssal High Dragon) She smells blood. The hatchlings are hungry. She never stops hunting.
* (Summoning the Abyssal High Dragon) She's very big.
* (Summoning the Abyssal High Dragon) She's here!
Winter Palace
* (During Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts)
** Cole: Breath painful, stabbing, and then real stabbing, lungs full, frothing, scent of apples as it all goes black.
** Dorian: "Death by Apple Pie," a lovely poem by our dear friend Cole.
** Solas: They're already dead. You can't help them. Don't let their memory overwhelm you.
** Sera: Nobody asked for creepy, alright? Shut it!
=== Jaws of Hakkon DLC ===
Frostback Basin
* (The Lady's Rest, upon entering) 
** Sera: I hate this island. Stinks of dog, and blight, and just... sad! How does it smell sad?
** Cole: You feel sad because they do, watching, waiting. They want to help you hear it.
* (The Lady's Rest) They watched the dead and dying, pressing close, clustered to hear, and forgot how to go back.
* (Talking to Telana's spirit)
** Inquisitor: Cole, can you help make sense of this?
** Cole: It hurts. She hurt. The wraiths knew only the pain, but she knew why, daring, dreaming into darkness, for Ameridan.
* (Deciding what should happen to Telana's spirit)
** Inquisitor: We'll find Ameridan. You don't have to wait here anymore.
** Cole: You did what she wanted you to. You can let go of her now.
**(Alternatively) Inquisitor: You're too dangerous to remain here.
** Cole: No, she's not angry! She wanted to help. She stayed when Telana couldn't.
* (Near an empty cart in Swamp Kuldsdotten) Hunting, following a scent. Something good, fresh, a treat, then trapped, nets and clubs and pain. She's nearby. Caged, cramped, can't get free. We need to help her.
* (Swamp Kuldsdotten) The trees are fighting. They are very angry, but very slow.
* (Freeing Storvacker) She won't hurt us. Hello! We're here to help!
* (Following the spire path to Razikale's Reach) Yes. Upriver, spires, a place to pray and plan, one last night. This is it.
* (Activating the first trail-marker) But there's still a wall. Light doesn't make walls go away.
* (Attempting to enter the Old Temple before the battle) Too strong, too many! We need a different way! Kenric sent us here! He can send us somewhere else! (Or) The Avvar at Stone-Bear Hold! They want to help!
* (Storvacker joins the battle against the Jaws of Hakkon) I'm happy to see you, too!
* (Advancing towards the Old Temple)
** Cassandra: No sign of the dragon. It must be in there.
** Cole: She doesn't want to be him. He doesn't want to be chained. Tied together, wracked and raging.
** Solas: The ritual must be underway. There is a great deal of magical energy coming from the bottom of the crater.
* (Destroying an ice ward) You can't freeze us!
* (Old Temple, vestibule) This isn't real, but it still hurts. We have to be fast.
* (Using the brazier to stay warm) Yes. False cold, but the real fire keeps it away.
* (Near the ritual chamber) The dragon. She's stuck, still, a statue. Hakkon is angry inside her.
* (After defeating Gurd Harofsen and seeing the dragon escape) She still has Hakkon inside her. We have to stop her before she hurts people.
* (Talking to Finn Caldansen) 
** Cole: Hurt and harrowed. Knotted and nameless. Can't be him, could never be him. But who am I?
** Finn: How did—yes.
* (After killing one of the Fade-touched beasts) It's not like the others. It touched something larger, left itself pale.
* (After killing the three Fade-touched beasts needed for the funeral offering)
** Inquisitor: This should be enough for the offering.
** Cole: The hold is a place, but also the people in it. Like Finn. If he gave the offering, he will hurt, but less.
* (Giving the offering to Finn) Say the words he would want: "Fly to the Lady in peace, and come back soon."
* (Seeing the Nox Morta) I thought bogfishers were nice!
* (Talking to Sigrid Gulsdotten)
** Sigrid: It has taught me with patience and kindness since I was a child, frightened of the fire I could suddenly call down.
** Cole: It loves you, too. It will stay if you want it.
** Sigrid: I know. But I was oath-sworn to release it when the time came. I do not want to lose the one who loves me.
* (Finding all five enchanted skulls in Swamp Kuldsdotten) Cole: Stories from spirits, bound in blood and bone. Augury.
* (Talking to the augur)
** (The initial greeting)
*** Augur: So she/he arrives. Don't throng! Behold, worthy ones. The woman/man who blazes like fire, and mends the air.
*** Cole: Hello!
** (Discussing what happens to the "weak" mages)
*** Augur: One day, they do not wake in their bed. It is very sad. It is what must be done.
*** Cole: You give them every chance, spirits watchful, wary, waiting until you're both sure. It's always cold in the hut then.
*** Augur: Who is this one? He is blood and bone, but there are bonds about his form.
*** Cole: Yes. I am compassion. I know that now. I want to be here.
* (The Loss of a Friend side quest)
** (By the scorched bodies) Too much, too sharp. Something's wrong.
** (If Grandin is allowed to go free) Hakkonites hurt people. It wants to kill them. It doesn't know how to stop.
* (Up an Away side quest)
** (Following Runa's trail)
*** Sera: She isn't very good at it. No mountain.
*** Cole: It's a hill, not a mountain. Or will it be a mountain one day?
** (If the Inquisitor allows Runa to include them in her prayers) It is nice to be remembered.
** (After Runa makes the offering and the spirits depart) Goodbye!
* (Swamp Kuldsdotten, encountering Colette as she's ambushed by lurkers) Over there. Can we help?
=== The Descent DLC ===
Deep Roads
* (Walking through the Forgotten Caverns after getting off the Ancient Lift)
**It’s wrong here. Too many whispers. The song is wrong. Chords cut to silence.
*(Moving through the Forgotten Caverns after the first fight with the Sha-Brytol)
** Cole: It sings softly under the silence. The Stone took him back. He's home again.
** Valta: Somehow that brings me comfort.
*(Upon reaching the Bastion of the Pure)
**It's singing. A they, that's an it, that's asleep, but still making music.
=== Trespasser DLC ===
The Crossroads
* The rocks didn't move themselves. They found a way to make a path.
* This goes everywhere. Even places that aren't anymore.
* It's old. The stones remember different ways to be, and it asks them to change.
Elven Mountain Ruins
* Cole: I like the quiet. This was a good place for spirits.
* Varric: Quieter than Kirkwall, huh? Thanks again for coming to visit. Lot of people needed help.
* Cole: Yes. You’re doing good work. Healing hurts.
* Blackwall: What have you been up to, these past few years?
* Iron Bull: You’ve been gone a lot these past few years, kid. Anywhere in particular?
* Cassandra: I have seen little of you these past years, Cole. Where have you been?
* Cole: Helping people. Towns burned, too many dead from bandits or battles.
* (If Cole is more human) Cole: It’s harder now that they can see me, but harder doesn’t mean you don’t do it.
Deep Roads
* They're all singing. Coffers, coffins, corpses that aren't dead. A song crying out in the dark.
* Songs screaming far away. It wants to wake up but can't remember how. No one should be here.
(If Cole is more human)
* Cole: Some of the stones here are pretty. I should get one for Maryden.   
* Sera: What, you and the bard? The Sera-was-never bard?
* Cole: We’re… yes. Maryden says you’ve the patience of Andraste for putting up with me all these years. But she laughs when she says it.
* Sera: Right, you can have each other. And… good for you, Creepy.
* Dorian: You’ve got a lady friend? Really?              
* Vivienne: Am I to believe you’re courting someone?
* Iron Bull: You and the bard, huh?
* Cole: I am human now.
* Iron Bull: Good for you, kid! Let me know if you need any tips.
* Vivienne: If you say so, dear.
* Dorian: No, no, that’s fine. You’re a real boy now. Would’ve lost gold on it being a girl, but that’s probably just me.
* Cole: She’s kind, and her voice helps people. And her bodice smells good.
* Cole: Wait, I shouldn’t have said that. Forget! Oh, that doesn’t work anymore. Forget?
(If Cole is more spirit.)
* Cole: The songs are old here. Sleeping sadness already forgotten. I can’t help this hurt.
Shattered Library
(If Cole is more spirit)
* Cole: The Veil isn’t real. It’s false, fake, fabricated to forbid. Isn’t it wonderful?
* Cassandra: If what we have seen here is true, it changes everything we thought we knew about the Fade and this world.
* Iron Bull: “Wonderful” isn’t the word I would’ve chosen. No wonder my people are shitting themselves about this place.
* Dorian: I was thinking “alarming,” personally.
* Cole: It means I belong here! Helping, healing the hurt! I’m not a wrong thing, a wreck, a ruin. I’m what I should be!
* Sera: Nobody is used to this, are they? Try this, Creepy: I practiced thought-arrows to keep you out of my head.
* Cole: You keep making me think of genitals.
* Sera: The fade is flaps and dangles here.
* Cole: (Sighs.) Solas understands.
* Dorian: I imagine he would understand, if he were here. Shame he ran off.
* Iron Bull: Or he would, if he were here. His loss for taking off.
* Cassandra: Solas would understand, if he were here… but we must respect his decision to leave.
* Cole: He doesn’t want me to follow, but I can almost feel him here. All new, faded for her.
(If Cole is more human)
* Cole: Back when I was a spirit, this wouldn’t have bothered me. Now it’s all wrong.
== Combat comments ==
Low Health (Companions)
* (Blackwall) Blackwall is hurt!
* (Cassandra) Cassandra is hurt!
* (Dorian) Dorian is hurt!
* (Iron Bull) The Iron Bull! No!
* (Sera) Sera needs me!
* (Solas) Solas! No!
* (Varric) Varric is hurt!
* (Vivienne) Vivienne is hurt!
Fallen companions
* (Inquisitor) Wait! Stop!
* (Inquisitor) No!
* (Blackwall) Blackwall!
* (Cassandra) Cassandra!
* (Dorian) Dorian!
* (Iron Bull) The Iron Bull! 
* (Sera) Sera!
* (Solas) Solas!
* (Varric) Varric!
* (Vivienne) Vivienne!
Kills an enemy
* Die!
* You can't hurt me.
* Goodbye!
* (Destroying a Winter Shard in the Lowland Fortress) You can't freeze us!
* (If in party when Haven is under siege.) Can you see me? You will see me!
Low Health
* Ahh, it hurts!
* Help!
* Ahhhhg!
Fighting Demons
* Do you hear it? Don't listen.
== Cole's Cryptic Comments ==
*[Varric] "Kid, says the stone. Kid, kidding. It would keep me kept with a name, but the cairn can't catch me."
**Occurs after Cole's personal quest
*[Varric] "He writes words that aren't real, but they are for him, in a quiet place whose stone shape shakes the ground."
*[Varric] "The stone is cracked, split, jagged. The hawk would have been safe if it had stayed, but that isn't what hawks do."
** A reference to Hawke after the quest Here Lies the Abyss.
*[Dorian] "Bright, like the fish that kill you if you eat them. Can't hate you for hiding if you burn so brilliantly."
*[Dorian] "Glittering to gloss a hidden hurt. Unlearning not to hope for more. Stumbling steps where the wall used to be."
** If in a romance with Dorian.
*[Dorian] "He tried to melt a snowflake because he liked waterfalls. Swallowing bile and pride as he sees his son defend himself."
** Refers to Dorian's father.
*[Solas] "Voice ringing with fullness from both worlds, guiding me to the shining places. He calls himself Pride."
*[Solas] "Old pain, shadows forgotten from dreams too real. This side is slow and heavy, but here is what can change." 
*[Solas] "Wisdom knows enduring is pain. He hurts for her, another of many he couldn't save. He carries necessary deaths."
** In reference to and occurs after Solas's personal quest All New, Faded for Her.
* [Solas] "She is bare-faced, embarrassed, and she doesn't know. She thinks it's because of her."
** If in a romance with Solas and the vallaslin is removed.
* [Solas] "She feels her face, marked, marred without malice. She didn't know. She thinks it's why you walked away."
** If in a romance with Solas and the vallaslin is not removed.
* [Solas] "He hurts, an old pain from before, when everything sang the same. You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't."
** If in a romance with Solas and let Cole speak option is chosen.
* [Vivienne] "A breath-caught smile from the Enchanter as the candle lights. The walls are safe; she will never be hungry again."
** Refers to Vivienne's relationship with Duke Bastien.
*[Vivienne or Mythal/Flemeth] "A cold flame blazes in a robe worth more than children. Protect her, and she consumes you, burning because she can."
*[Cassandra] "Petals fall open as lips shape words that rhyme. Candlelight softens the edges."
**If in a romance with Cassandra
*[Cassandra] "Stomach full of mantras, she burns like a beacon, Faith a flame to bring succor for a Seeker."
*[Cassandra] "Faith seeks a friend in Compassion, cautious, careful, too much grey but growing."
** A reference to the budding friendship between Cole and Cassandra.
*[Blackwall] "He feels naked without the name on the armor, but now he knows you want him naked."
** If in a romance with Blackwall.
*[Blackwall] "An old name burns inside armor that shouldn't fit, lit by faces of the children he couldn't save."
*[Blackwall] "The name breaks free, pulls the pain with it. A black wall to shield the self when the sky is rainier."
*[The Iron Bull] "Tied, but tenderly, loving in the letters of a word that would stop it, knots in satin scarves."
** If in a romance with The Iron Bull. 
*[The Iron Bull] "The, a joke. He laughs to himself, imagining herds of cattle in fields of iron, but now he worries it fits."
*[The Iron Bull] "Salt-spray smell of Seheron. Lost in smoke from a burning ship. Guilt at not feeling guiltier."
** If the Qunari Dreadnaught is sacrificed in Bull's personal quest Demands of the Qun.
*[The Iron Bull] "Copper on the lips. Dalish lies dead-eyed beside me. He'll come, he'll call, he won't leave us. Horns pointing up."
** If the Chargers are sacrificed in Bull's personal quest Demands of the Qun.
*[Sera] "Fleet-footed and free, the arrow that caught the miller's sack, but no longer shot alone, aquiver in a quiver."
*[Sera] "She hurts, but helping hurts more. She sees the strings that pull me, eyes like raisins in a stale cookie."
* [Sera] "Shite. He's wrong. Dead-eyed crazy, shite. I called him a 'him'. Is he alive, is everything alive, shite. I hate raisins."
*[Leliana] "The Left Hand remembers a knife slipped to her in the darkness, and wonders why the flower blooms."
*[Leliana] "The Left Hand is harder, faith fallen in folly. It makes the dreams worse, but sends them away faster."
** If Leliana is "hardened".
*[Leliana] "The Left Hand blooms on the bush, remembering the light that shone in her darkness. She knows how to sing again."
** If Leliana is "softened".
*[Josephine] "Steel flashes, like at the top of the stairs, but this time she knows her voice and it ends with a kiss."
** If in a romance with Josephine. Josephine once inadvertently killed a man as the scuffled at the top of a stair case and he fell as she pushed him away. Thereafter, it haunted her. 
*[Josephine] "She spins, plucking strings, matching wits and words, an admiral who will never send ships of her own."
*[Josephine] "Ships launch on changing winds. Dizzy sometimes, like the top of the stairs, but sometimes like dancing."
*[Cullen] "Safe and solid, protecting and proud. He feels like quiet, stronger when you hold him."
** If in a romance with Cullen.
*[Cullen] "He is quiet, behind the noise. The little bottle makes him shake, but he tests the chains."
** If Cullen is told to continue to not take Lyrium.
*[Cullen] "He sounds right again with the chains in place, but the music makes him sad."
** If Cullen is told to take Lyrium again.
* [Cullen] "He sounds new, echoes of laughter on an empty riverbed. Not for sailing, but safer." 
*[Cullen] 
**"They didn't hang you there, you can walk away."
**"Uldred marked you, but didn't make you. You stayed you."
**"The center never changed, kept safe like a coin in your pocket."
This is not spoken by Cole, but is sent in a message to Cullen from Cole and can be heard being delivered to Cullen in Cullen's office at Skyhold.
* "It's made from people."
** This is a possible reference to how Red Lyrium is made.
** This is a possible reference to the film Soylent Green.
** This is also a possible reference to Reapers in BioWare's sister series, Mass Effect.
*"He meant to watch forever. He called himself Sorrow."
** This is a reference to Abelas that occurs after the quest What Pride Had Wrought.
** Possibly a reference to The Sorrow from Metal Gear.
* "She's still behind the curtains in the reading room, watching the blood pool on the floor."
** This is a direct quote from Briala in the novel The Masked Empire.
* "He hates it all because of the darkness behind the door. Some doors should stay shut."
** This is a possible reference to the novel House of Leaves.
** This is a possible reference to the door of Solasan.
** This is also a possible reference to Corypheus's trip to the fade and finding the black city empty
* "It wasn't blood in the bath. Fingers on the scalp, intimate, and then the moment is gone."
** This is a reference to the video game Gone Home.
* "She knows they're going to kill her, can only save what's important. Precious space to remember her smile."
** This is a reference to the video game Hate Plus.
* "He was dead the whole time. He didn't know."
** This is a reference to the film The Sixth Sense.
* "It wasn't from a flower. He rode it in the snow."
** This is a reference to the film Citizen Kane.
* "He hunts the killer, but he's the one who killed her. He can't remember."
** This is a reference to the film Memento.
* "He didn't kill his father. He was his father."
** This is a reference to Star Wars.
* "There is no other man. He becomes the other man to do the things he can't."
** This is a possible reference to the film Fight Club.
** This is also a possible reference to Thom Rainier's history with Blackwall.
** This could also be a reference to a large number of superheroes that have secret identities, such as Batman and Superman.
* "He was the boy who was supposed to die. He named himself after the horse."
** This is a reference to the film Lucky Number Slevin.
* "He teaches them to fight with a secret flaw, part of a glorious strategy."
** This is a reference to the Bioware game Jade Empire.
* "He was their enemy the whole time, but she made him forget, so he could change." 
** This is a reference to another Bioware game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
*"They should have been born together, but instead they were bound by light."
** This is possibly a reference to the game Beyond: Two Souls.
*"Never trust half an elf."
** This is possibly a reference Michel de Chevin's betrayal in The Masked Empire and to the film series Lord of the Rings.
=== The Descent DLC ===
* "It's singing. A they that's an it that's asleep, but still making music."
=== Trespasser DLC ===
* "He did not want a body. But she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face." 
* "She killed the girl to save herself. She thinks about the eyes going black. A weapon is an order. Not a gift." 
** This is a reference to Mass Effect 3's background story about an Asari forced to kill an injured farm girl Hilary to stay alive. Shepard has the chance to use Spectre authorization and requisition her a weapon per her request, which she then uses to commit suicide.
* "Bare-faced but free, frolicking fighting, fierce. He wants to give wisdom, not orders." 
* "He died in the darkness so a blue rose could bloom." 
** This is a reference to Charr, Ereba and their child, also from the Mass Effect Series by BioWare.
* [Divine Victoria] "Her name is different now. Victoria. The old name slips away. Further each time. She's glad you're here."
* [Blackwall] "Rainier. Rainier. Rainier. It still hurts. But you helped make it better. He can mend it now." 
** This is a reference to the pardoning of Thom Rainier during Revelations.
* [Cole] "Being this, being me...it's harder. But better. I like me. Maryden laughs at things I say." 
** This is a reference to Cole being made more human.
* "The guardian spirits stayed. Not bound but biding. Because he asked. He knows how to speak so spirits listen." 
* "It was the same boy. His mother on the ship. His father in their homeland. He grew up lonely, or didn't." 
** This is a reference to a Quarian child named Jona in the Mass Effect series; in Mass Effect 2, Shepard may encounter a recording of Jona's mother being gunned down when her ship came under attack by reactivated Geth. In Mass Effect 3, Shepard may encounter Jona's dying father on Rannoch, the Quarian homeworld. The last sentence is possibly referencing the opposing fates of the Quarians, either restoring their homeworld or having their fleet - and much of the races' population - decimated by the Geth in self defense.
* "Your hand hurts. A heartbeat. Not yours. Hammering the beat of a song in its final verse. I'm sorry." 
** This is a reference to the volatile state of the Inquisitor's Anchor during Trespasser.
* "It's the Veil. It wants to be back, but it's trapped on you. I don't know how to help!"
* "The spirits have fled. Flying. Fluttering. Fast to the farthest Fade. They're afraid of the Veil tearing again."
* "His friend had to die. Because he thought they were people. A slow arrow breaks in the sad wolf's jaws."
** A reference to the death of Felassan at the end of Dragon Age: The Masked Empire. 
* "He broke the dreams to stop the old dreams from waking. The wolf chews its leg off to escape the trap."
**A reference to Solas creating the Veil to stop the Evanuris.
* "They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget."
* "Sometimes the cow takes your gold."
** This is a reference to the Shifty Looking Cow in the BioWare game Mass Effect.
* "If you leave and come back. The chest gives you another. That's how we know too much."
** This is a reference to "chest farming", a method in which a player reloads a saved game repeatedly in an attempt to get a specific item or loot from a single chest (especially in order to upskill/overpower a character).
** While less likely, it may also be a reference to an exploit in Dragon Age: Inquisition, in which leaving at least one item (or gold) in a chest and leaving the area before returning will restock the chest's original contents. This process can be repeated with virtually any static chest, provided the player is able to leave and return to the area to reset it.
* "It always had a soul. The question is the answer."
** This is a reference to Legion from Mass Effect 3, an AI who attains individual sentience as indicated by asking "Does this unit have a soul?"
* (In the Deep Roads) "Their ancient shapers were mountains drawn of all their wills, walking their memories into valleys of the world."
* (In the Deep Roads) "They're all singing. Coffers, coffins, corpses that aren't dead. A song crying out in the dark."
* (In the Darvaarad, near red lyrium) "The song is different, but the pieces fit together".
* (Approaching the Shrine to the Dread Wolf) "Solas doesn't want to hurt people! He's not that kind of wolf! Qunari don't see."
== Companion Comments about Cole ==
* Blackwall: Cole's dangerous. Unpredictable. We aren't even sure what he is. Don't know what he might do. I wouldn't turn my back on him.
* Blackwall: I've been too hard on Cole. He's odd enough and confounding, but there may be some good in him after all. The least I can do is support him while he sorts himself out.
* Cassandra: Tell that demon...what does it call itself, Cole? Tell it to leave. He may not mean harm, but that does not mean he will not harm us. Spirits are not creatures to take at face value. Be cautious with him, Inquisitor.
* Sera: Not saying nothing about that. That thing is just wrong.
* Vivienne: Whether Cole is a spirit or a demon is irrelevant. Neither can be trusted, my dear. Remember that.
* Sera: Don’t give two squirts about him, he’s still just a wrong thing. (If Cole is made more human)
== Cole's Comments about Companions ==
* Inquisitor: You're too bright. Like counting birds against the sun. The mark makes you more. But past it...
:(dependent on the player's belief and motivation choices for becoming inquisitor)
:(For non-faith based, "fanatical belief is the problem", "restore order" motivation inquisitor)
:(Or... simply, if the Inquisitor is a Rift Mage)
:You reach across, mindful, meaning. You pull it through to this side, make it real here.
:(For a dwarf Inquisitor)
:The stone, still there, silent and reaching up for the blood that walks. No dreams with the cord cut. You sell it.
:(For an elf Inquisitor)
:Pulled, blood that is not blood, a tiny trace of time. Lips struggling to shape language your parents lived.
:(Human Inquisitor)
:War and weariness, blood and battle, life learning to lead, clash, kill.
:(Vashoth Inquisitor) 
:Old blood, deeper, passion pounding pulse, unchecked. Raw rage, but only an option.
And past that, the weight of all on you. All the hopes you carry, fears you fight. You are theirs.
It must be very hard. I hope I help.
*Varric: Varric is quiet inside. He pulls me more to here. Makes me a person. Calls me "kid." A friend.
*Solas: Solas, bright and sad, observes and accepts. Spirit self, seeing the soul, Solas, but somehow sorrows.
== Cole and Blackwall ==
* Blackwall: They say you're a demon.
* Cole: Yes. Or spirit. I want it to be spirit.
* Blackwall: Either way, I know you're dangerous.
* Cole: Yes. Like you.
* Blackwall: What?
* Cole: A sack on the side of the road, struggling. The boy runs from it, crying.
* Blackwall: Fine, so you're dangerous and insane.
* Cole: You would stop it if you could. That is enough. But don't do it again.
(Upon approaching the sea in the Storm Coast.)
* Cole: "One by one they follow me, laughing, drowning in the sea."
* Cole: The rest of the poem is sad.
* Blackwall: But the start was so cheery.
* Cole: So many masks.
* Blackwall: At the ball? It's Orlesian culture, get used to it.
* Cole: Not at the ball. Here.
* Cole: Mockingbird, mockingbird, quiet and still, what do you see from the top of that hill? Can you see up? Can you see down?
* Blackwall: Wait.
* Cole: Can you see the dead things all about town?
* Blackwall: How do you know that song?
* Cole: It just came to me. Everyone says everyone knows it. The children knew it.
* Cole: How do you get the hair on your face?
* Blackwall: Look, ask Varric. He seems to have adopted you.
* Cole: He doesn't have hair on his face. Is it a mask?
* Blackwall: No, it's a beard. Look, if you were any other lad your age I'd tell that one day you'll probably grow one too. Except I don't know if spirits that become boys get beards.
* Cole: I could try.
* Blackwall: Right. You go do that then. Good luck. Have fun.
* Cole: We played by the fire so she would be warm. No, it's summer, Liddy.
* Blackwall: This thing you do? Maybe you should stop doing it.
* Cole: Got her a flower but they'd taken her. Left it on her bed. Next eight on the sill.
* Cole: Tourney sands. A garden seat. Five to Chantry altars. One to a child with her hair. The sea? Too many to count.
* Cole: And thirty-six. Tossed off the battlements today.
* Blackwall: Go bother Solas.
* Cole: You have many feelings.
* Cole: I'm sorry she died.
* Cole: Your knife is big.
* Blackwall: (Laughs.) It's a sword.
* Cole: It's bigger than mine.
* Blackwall: And now you've made it awkward.
* Blackwall: How does a spirit become flesh anyway?
* Cole: I don't know. How does a Warden become Grey?
* Blackwall: You know, Cole, you're not so bad. But I'll never get used to the things that come out of your mouth.
* Cole: There was once a man who had bees coming out of his mouth?
* Blackwall: A perfect example.
* Blackwall: What are you staring at?
* Cole: Your head. So many tangles. Knots. And that's just on the inside.
* Cole: You need a hairbrush.
* Blackwall: Hey, Cole. Say something interesting.
* Cole: "Something interesting"?
* Blackwall: Yes, I deserved that one.
* Cole: When you charge at them, you make them hit you.
* Blackwall: Ideally. That's why my armor's heavier than yours.
(If the Inquisitor did not romance Blackwall.)
* Cole: Golden, graceful, glittering but not gaudy. Voice delicate and delectable. 
* Blackwall: What are you talking about, Cole? 
* Cole: Sweet, soft, and silky. Her dress, and also under her dress. Are you going to talk to Josephine? 
* Blackwall: Maker's balls, get out of my mind, would you? You make me sound like a dirty, old bastard!
* Cole: Do you want to hear what she thinks of you?
* Blackwall: No.
* Cole: You should.
* Blackwall: Why are you here? Do you even understand what's happening in the world?
* Cole: I heal the helpless. Give hope where there is hurt.
* Blackwall: But you've killed before.
* Cole: Yes. Before I knew what I was.
* Blackwall: Why should we believe you can help now?
* Cole: It hurts too much. I can't be me, have to be someone who never killed. 
* Cole: Help enough, and I'm different. I'm not me. Believe it to become it.
* Blackwall: Maker's balls.
* Cole: We can change, if we want it enough.
* Blackwall: Tell me, Cole, how do you make them forget you?
* Cole: I'm not really real. 
* Cole: They already want to forget me. I find the part that doesn't fit and set it free. Their mind makes a shape that makes sense without me.
* Blackwall: That's not right.
(Occurs after Blackwall's personal quest.)
(Occurs after Blackwall's personal quest.)
(Occurs after Blackwall's personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
== Cole and Cassandra ==
* Cassandra: If you are to fight alongside us, Cole, I expect you to follow orders. The Inquisitor believes you wish to help, but I will not allow you to threaten innocents.
* Cole: Yes. Help the hurt, save the small. If I become a demon, cut me down.
* Cassandra: Do not doubt me. I will do it.
* Cole: Good.
* Cassandra: You're... serious, aren't you?
* Cole: Yes. I hope you are, too.
* Cole: You're a better Seeker than Lambert. You care about everyone.
* Cassandra: You knew Lord Seeker Lambert?
* Cole: I killed him. He cared more about stopping mages than protecting people.
* Cassandra: You... killed the Lord Seeker?
* Cole: Pathetic mages. Crush them at Andoral's Reach or starve them out. Doesn't matter which.
* Cole: I need an example, Seekers succeeding, seizing power. Overthrow the Divine, triumphant in the eyes of the Maker.
* Cassandra: I... am uncertain whether to believe you.
* Cole: You believe I killed him.
* Cassandra: Cole, do you have any proof about what you claim Lord Seeker Lambert did?
* Cole: I was there. I didn't need proof.
* Cassandra: But he could have been brought to justice. There are rules...
* Cole: He used rules to hurt people. He always found a way to be right, even when he killed my friend.
* Cassandra: You had a friend?
* Cole: A pretty Templar. She died protecting Rhys and me, but she got better.
* Cassandra: I... don't even want to know what that means.
* Cassandra: I have considered what you said about Lord Seeker Lambert, Cole. If it's true, then perhaps he deserved to die.
* Cassandra: Though it need not have been you who killed him.
* Cole: He would have hurt people.
* Cassandra: It is not that simple.
* Cole: Why not? He made templars see monsters instead of mages, made them push until it all fell down.
* Cassandra: We thought Lambert was assassinated. It made the rebellion worse, and many people were killed.
* Cole: But not by him.
* Cassandra: (Sighs.)
* Cassandra: Cole, you killed Lord Seeker Lambert so he wouldn't hurt people.
* Cole: Yes. Thank you for remembering. Sometimes people forget me.
* Cassandra: Is that why you went to Therinfal?
* Cole: Most sounded the same, but the leaders they listened to were hurt, hollowed, sick with a new song.
* Cole: They swallowed lies until they sang with darker music. The sound hollowed them.
* Cole: I wanted them to stop me if I harmed people, but I had to stop them instead.
* Cole: Oh, wait. You had a question.
* Cassandra: Perhaps we should think of something more... pleasant.
* Cole: Like helping people?
* Cassandra: Yes, like that.
* Cole: Oh. That makes more sense.
* Cassandra: Why do you look at me when you say that?
* Cole: You found faith, not just a feeling. It was a spirit.
* Cassandra: We do not need to speak of this further.
* Cole: I'm a spirit that touched a body, you're a body that touched a spirit. We're the same but backwards!
* Cassandra: Please, stop.
* Cole: It's you, Cassandra.
* Cole: Breathing from the belly, cold air warmed, stones beneath me, candle before me, Maker all around.
* Cole: Then nothing, empty, I'm cut, cauterized, then caught, cleansed by a light that carries me home.
* Cole: You're thinking backwards. You don't have faith because of the spirit. The spirit came because of your faith.
* Cole: It's you.
* Cassandra: Thank you, Cole. I appreciate that.
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
(Occurs if Cole forgives the Templar during his personal quest.)
*Cassandra: What is it, Cole? Why the odd looks?
*Cole: Light pastry with blueberries, sticky on your fingers. Small hands reaching as Anthony tears his in half.
*Cole: But when you got to the kitchen, they were all gone.
*Cassandra: Ah, yes. They are delicious, but do not last long.
*Cole: I could get you one. The cooks don't see me.
*Cassandra: Just because they don't see you doesn't mean it isn't theft.
* Cole: You're sad about the Seekers.
* Cassandra: That takes no magical gift to understand, Cole.
* Cole: The room with the candle. It wasn't a lie. Your faith was real.
* Cassandra: The same could be said for Lambert or Lucius. A single moment of perfect faith does not make one immune to fault.
* Cole: Belly knotted, the candle burns like the sun. No voice but my own for months. "Blessed are they who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not falter."
* Cassandra: "Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just."
* Cole: It will be enough.
(Occurs after Here Lies the Abyss)
* Cole: Voices sing, but the hawk has flown away and cannot hear them. Standing by the door. Legs stuck. I shouldn't be here. 
(If Bethany is still alive)
* Cole: Where is his sister? Is she crying? Can she breathe? I couldn't breathe. Pain twists, but for which one?
* Cassandra: I knew the story more than the man/woman.
* Cole: It isn't your fault he/she died.
* Cassandra: Perhaps not. Sometimes knowing that isn't enough.
* Cole: Can you know it more?
* Cassandra: Be easy, Cole. I will be fine.
* Cole: The frame holds, hand at the waist moves as body and thought spiral
* Cassandra: Cole!
* Cole: Notes drip through the air. 
* Cole: [humming]
* Cassandra: That's not the song they were playing.
* Cole: No, but it's your favorite song.
* Cole: Where would the Inquisition go?
* Cassandra: What do you mean?
* Cole: The Wardens wanted to help, but they hurt people instead. You would have sent them away, Cassandra.
* Cassandra: I believe it may have been safer, but we cannot know for certain.
* Cole: If the Inquisition stops helping, where would we go to keep people safe from us?
* Cassandra: We must pray that it never comes to that.
* Cole: Prayer isn't a place. It would not save them from us.
* Cassandra: The Wardens fell. The Inquisition need not follow suit.
* Cole: The Wardens thought the same. So did the templars.
* Cassandra: Then we must be vigilant.
* Cole: Warden-Commander Clarel wasn't like you, Cassandra.
* Cassandra: Thank you, Cole... I think. I never met Clarel, but I will take that as a compliment.
* Cole: She fell because she fell. That's how Erimond convinced her to hurt people. He made it look like bravery.
* Cole: She called it a choice, but it was a lie. She was afraid.
* Cole: You aren't afraid. You won't fall.
* Cassandra: Thank, you, Cole. I appreciate that.
* Cassandra: What of magister Erimond? Do you sense a secret pain in him?
* Cole: No. Erimond is an asshole.
* Cassandra: (Laughs.) Well said.
* Cole: Shield catches the blow, blade comes down, shiver through the hilt as it cuts. Another bandit falls.
* Cole:A good strike, Lucius would have been proud. The bandit's eyes meet mine as he falls, so afraid. Such a waste.
* Cassandra: Please leave my mind, Cole.
* Cole: You don't need to feel bad.
* Cassandra: I do not feel bad. The bandits needed to die.
* Cole: Not that. You feel bad for being proud of it.
* Cole: You couldn't help the bandits. Some people have to die. Being happy for your skill doesn't make you cruel.
* Cassandra: Thank you... I suppose.
* Cole: Do you ever take off your armor and talk to it?
* Cassandra: No.
* Cole: It might say something nice.
* Cole: Your elbow made him smile.
* Cassandra: My... who are you talking about?
* Cole: The blacksmith's apprentice. He repaired the armor. He was too shy to ask if you were satisfied.
* Cole: He saw you smile as you tested the joint. It made him happy.
* Cassandra: It was fine work. I will remember to thank him when we are back at Skyhold.
* Cole: My elbows don't make anyone smile.
* Cole: You don't like dead people, Cassandra.
* Cassandra: Was that a question? Am I supposed to?
* Cole: The ones in the dark city. Wrapped in cloths that smell like sunflowers. You hated the singing.
* Cassandra: Ah, the Grand Necropolis. Yes, I never saw the point.
* Cole: Maybe dead people like the singing.
* Cassandra: I would rather not think about that.
* Cole: Your uncle misses you, Cassandra.
* Cassandra: Picked that up from my head, did you?
* Cole: No. He wrote you a letter. There was pain in the page.
* Cassandra: Stop going into my quarters. How many times must I tell you?
* Cassandra: Cole, I found a locket on my pillow earlier...
* Cole: It was Anthony's.
* Cassandra: It was my grandmother's, actually, but it had Anthony's portrait inside. I thought I'd lost it.
* Cole: You did lose it. I had to fight a rat for it.
* Cassandra: Oh? Thank you.
* Cole: He wasn't a very big rat.
* Cole: Cassandra, who's... Regalyan?
* Cassandra: No one to concern yourself with.
* Cole: You were thinking about the time you—
* Cassandra: Now I'm thinking about something else. Can you guess?
* Cole: My hat wouldn't fit there...
== Cole and Dorian ==
* Dorian: You're not possessing a human body, Cole? You... actually look like that?
* Cole: Yes.
* Dorian: But a spirit's true form is always monstrous, or at least unnatural.
* Cole: The world doesn't make sense to them. It's too real. That's why they look wrong.
* Dorian: And... this is how you want to look?
* Cole: I want to help. Looking doesn't matter.
* Dorian: Can you change your form, Cole? If you wanted to look like something else?
* Cole: But I don't want to look like something else.
* Dorian: Hmm. There are magisters who'd be ecstatic if they could summon a demon who could pass for human.
* Cole: They would use it to hurt people.
* Dorian: You're right about that. They would.
* Dorian: Do you need to eat, Cole? Or sleep?
* Cole: I thought I had to. But I don't. The Old Songs can pull me.
* Dorian: That's something. I don't know what, but it's something.
* Dorian: What about when you're injured? Why do you bleed? Is it because you think you have to?
* Cole: Is that why you bleed?
* Dorian: I-- well-- uh, yes. You have me there.
* Cole: You ask a lot of questions, Dorian.
* Dorian: I'm curious about you. I had no idea something like you was possible!
* Cole: I'm curious about you, too.
* Dorian: You can ask me questions, if you like. I'm not sure why you'd want to, but--
* Cole: Oh, good! Thank you!
* Dorian: I'm...going to regret this, aren't I?
* Cole: Dorian, you said I could ask you questions.
* Dorian: It's true. (Sigh.) I did say that.
* Cole: Why are you so angry at your father? He wants to help and you know he does, but--
* Dorian: I'm not certain I can explain it to you.
* Cole: You love him, but you're angry. They mix together, boiling in the belly until it kneads into a knot.
* Dorian: Sometimes... sometimes love isn't enough, Cole.
* Cole: "Love isn't enough." Enough what? You didn't explain, Dorian.
* Dorian: (Sigh.) I was rather hoping I had.
* Cole: His face in the stands, watching as I pass the test. So proud there's tears in his eyes. Anything to make him happy. Anything.
* Cole: Why isn't that true anymore?
* Dorian: Cole, this... is not the sort of discussion for walking around. Please drop it.
* Cole: I'm hurting you, Dorian. Words winding, wanting, wounding. You said I could ask.
* Dorian: I know I did. The things you ask are just... very personal.
* Cole: But it hurts. I want to help, but it's all tangled with the love. I can't tug it loose without tearing it.
* Cole: You hold him so tightly. You let it keep hurting, because you think hurting is who you are. Why would you do that?
* Dorian: Can someone tell him to stop? Banish him back to the Fade or something!
* Inquisitor: Cole wants to help you. Maybe you should let him.
* Dorian: (Sigh.) Marvelous! Everyone's so helpful!
(or)
* Inquisitor: You're an adult, Dorian. You want him to stop, tell him.
* Cole: I'm sorry. I keep making it worse.
* Dorian: No, I'm sorry. Of course you don't understand. Just... leave me with it for now.
(or)
* Inquisitor: Cole, it's time to back off.
* Cole: I'm sorry. I keep making it worse.
* Dorian: No, I'm sorry. Of course you don't understand. Just... leave me with it for now.
* Dorian: I've been trying to imagine how to explain it to you, Cole.
* Dorian: The thing is, sometimes the ones you love are also the ones who disappoint you the most. 
* Dorian: You think that if they love you, they should understand. They shouldn't want to hurt you.
* Dorian: So you feel betrayed. You say things you can't ever take back. 
* Cole: Get out. You are no son of mine.
* Dorian: Yes, like that.
* Cole: He wishes he hadn't meant it.
* Dorian: Did you enjoy the Winter Palace, Cole?
* Cole: There were so many wonderful hats!
* Dorian: Did you try dancing? Or did you skulk around invisibly?
* Cole: Dancing is hard. You have to listen with your feet as well as your heart.
* Dorian: And not poke around in the heads of the other dancers.
* Cole: There's a lot to do all at once.
(If the Inquisitor is in a romance with Dorian.)
* Cole: You're happier now, Dorian.
* Dorian: Is that what that light, tingly feeling is? I suppose you're right.
* Cole: Wishing but wondering, wounded and wistful. What if he doesn't want me after?
* Dorian: But he did.
* Cole: Now you're smiling! It's good.
* Cole: Why did you leave your home, Dorian?
* Dorian: You know why. I had to stop the Venatori.
* Cole: It was more...it was the man with your eyes...angry, walking on cobblestones, 'I'm on my own now'
* Dorian: Digging around in my head again, are you?
* Cole: You said I could ask questions!
* Dorian: (Sigh.) Rather like inviting someone into your house and they walk off with the silverware!
* Dorian: Cole, you should be careful dancing around with those daggers when I'm throwing fire.
* Cole: It won't hurt me. It's friendly fire.
* Dorian: That doesn't always mean what you think it means.
* Cole: Your clothes look like the Fade, Dorian.
* Dorian: The stuff of dreams, an explosion of color and sensation wrapped in an enigma.
* Cole: It's shiny.
* Cole: Can you feel the bits of Fade around you when you cast spells, Dorian?
* Cole: They pool around the Veil, pulled by power, then push through to see this side.
* Dorian: So when I cast a fireball, it's just the Fade saying "peek-a-boo"?
* Cole: I don't think it says that.
* Dorian: If it says anything other than "I'm going to burn your face off," I don't want to hear it.
* Dorian: Cole, are those real clothes, or-?
* Cole: They're real. What else would they be?
* Dorian: I thought maybe you'd conjured them, like your physical form.
* Cole: Do you conjure yours? Is that why they look like that?
* Dorian: Never mind, forget I said anything.
* Dorian: That little trick, Cole, when you dip into someone's mind and take a drink? Do you choose what you're looking for, or is it random?
* Cole: It has to be hurt, or a way to help the hurt. That's what calls me.
* Cole: Rilienus, skin tan like fine whiskey, cheekbones shaded, lips curl when he smiles. He would have said yes.
* Dorian: I'll... thank you not to do that again, please.
* Cole: Dorian, am I handsome?
* Dorian: Are you what?
* Cole: You say you're handsome all the time. Am I? I can't tell.
* Dorian: You're all right. Might want to rethink the hats.
* Cole: But I like my hats.
* Cole: Dorian, what's a slave?
* Dorian: Festus bei um canaverum!
* Cole: But you said I could ask questions!
* Dorian: That's true. Just...go ask the Inquisitor this one.
* Cole: Dorian, I really wish you would tell me.
* Dorian: I drew you a diagram. Isn't that enough?
* Cole: No.
* Dorian: Good. Because the thought of you trying that frightens me more than a little.
* Dorian: Cole, the wooden duck I found on my bed... was that you?
* Cole: No. I'm not a wooden duck.
* Dorian: I mean did you put it there?
* Cole: Yes? I couldn't find one with little wheels, though. I'm sorry.
* Dorian: Cole, do you hear magic?
* Cole: Yes. I do. Don't you?
* Dorian: Spells sometimes makes a sound but... I don't think we hear the same thing.
* Cole: Don't your spells whisper things to you? What is and could be, music in the mind of strange, far away places?
* Dorian: Not lately.
* Cole: Then we don't hear the same thing.
* Dorian: Cole, you saw Corypheus when he attacked Haven. What was your... read on him?
* Cole: Fear inside. Blackness like a pool of hate. So much has changed, I need to stop it. Bend it to my will.
* Dorian: Did he actually walk into the Black City? Is that true?
* Cole: Betrayal, blurred at the edges, like a faded painting. Too long ago, so much confusion.
* Dorian: I'll... take that as a "maybe."
* Cole: There were people trying to kill me. That makes it harder.
* Dorian: Any progress on protecting yourself from binding, Cole?
* Cole: Not yet.
* Dorian: Hop to it! You're quick with those daggers. I'd rather not have them pointed at me.
== Cole and Iron Bull ==
* Cole: I like your horns, The Iron Bull.
* Cole: But they're dragon horns, not bull horns. You could have named yourself The Iron Dragon.
* Iron Bull: Oh, shit. That would have been better.
* Cole: Barman laughs. Slides the drink over. Tankard in view the whole time, no chance poison was added. Blade at his waist. Club under the bar. Moves with training, mercenary or guard. Use that if I have to.
* Iron Bull: Yeah. I go for the shoulder, a shot he trained to take on the armor. But, since he's a barman now and not a merc, he bleeds, flinches, and I trap the arm and break his neck.
* Cole: Why, The Iron Bull?
* Iron Bull: I didn't do it, kid. It was just idle thought, in case it came up.
* Cole: Do you think about how to kill everyone you meet?
* Iron Bull: Do you not?
* Cole: Vasaad was angry. He went first because he wanted to fight. Taking point, then points take him, red on his neck.
* Iron Bull: I was just thinking about-- Wait, you in my mind again, kid?
* Cole: Even if you went in first, there would have been another fight, another time he didn't listen. It wasn't your fault.
* Iron Bull: Yes, it was. I was in charge. Should've found a way to-- Hey, that's pretty good. We could use that!
* Cole: You can use sadness?
* Iron Bull: Ben-Hassrath, Kid. We can use anything.
* Iron Bull: So Cole, you're a spirit...demon...thing?
* Cole: Yes. And you're The Iron Bull, afraid of demons.
* Iron Bull: Not fond of 'em, no. But you and I are fine as long as you don't do any weird crap.
* Cole: Lying awake, sheets soaked in sweat, afraid to call the Tamassrans. Shadows make shapes in the dark.
* Cole: If it gets in my head, how do I cut it out? Itching, shaking, tears slide cold down my cheeks. "Tama, I'm scared."
* Iron Bull: Yeah, weird crap like that? Pretty much what I meant.
* Iron Bull: So Cole, you're polite, you're good in a fight, and your heart's in the right place.
* Cole: It is? Good.
* Iron Bull: I've got a plan. I think this could get you sorted out, get both feet on the ground.
* Cole: I have to lift my feet, or the rocks make noise when I walk.
* Iron Bull: Yes.... When we get back, you're going to spend an evening with a nice lady named Candy.
* Cole: Can I lift my feet?
* Iron Bull: She's gonna lift a lot more than that.
* Iron Bull: So how was Candy? You two have a good time?
* Cole: Yes. She danced. Then I untangled the hurt that made her angry at her mother.
* Cole: I helped her write a letter to send back home. She said I could call her Marguerite, the name didn't hurt anymore.
* Iron Bull: Well, that was five royals well-spent.
* Cole: The Iron Bull, do you ever worry about a demon standing to your left where your eye can't see?
* Iron Bull: Well, I do now.
* Iron Bull: Hey, Cole. Quick! What number am I thinking of?
* Cole: Raw and hot, trying to open it, but just darkness. How bad, how bad? No, done now, no sense worrying.
* Cole: The man they hurt coughs, shaking, but sits up. Eyes wide. No, not a man, a woman, clothes torn.
* Cole: "You're safe now. I'm Iron Bull. What do you want me to call you?"
* Iron Bull: Twelve. The number I was thinking of was "twelve."
* Iron Bull: (Grumbles.) Demon interrogators. Stupid idea anyway.
* Cole: You got to pick your name, The Iron Bull.
* Iron Bull: Sure did. Thanks for sticking the "the" on there, too. Most people forget.
* Iron Bull: It kinda makes it sound like I'm not really a person. Like I'm this dangerous thing, you know?
* Cole: You made it a joke on yourself, making a mockery, so you would never be that.
* Iron Bull: It kills the joke if you explain it, kid.
* Cole: You and Krem say words that hurt, but they aren't real, The Iron Bull.
* Iron Bull: Yes. We give each other grief. It's a soldier thing. Doesn't mean anything.
* Cole: It means friendship. And that you're soldiers. Krem likes it, it makes him proud.
* Iron Bull: I guess I can see that. Him, huh?
* Cole: Is that wrong?
* Iron Bull: No, no. I just thought, since you do that thing where you see into people's heads...
* Iron Bull: Actually, you're good, kid. Keep it up.
* Cole: The armor is right. The body isn't, but it doesn't hurt him anymore.
* Cole: You make it better.
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
(If the Inquisitor sided with the Ben-Hassrath during the Demands of the Qun quest.)
(If the Inquisitor sided with Iron Bull during the Demands of the Qun quest.)
* Cole: The Iron Bull, a woman in the last village wanted you to pick her up and take her clothes off.
* Iron Bull: Most people do.
* Cole: In her mind, you were very big.
* Iron Bull: Well, that's flattering.
* Cole: When we fight, you make them not people. So their death doesn't stick to you.
* Iron Bull: Yeah. Picked that up in Seheron. Gotta keep it separate. Out here, anything could be a threat. You kill 'em for the team, no questions asked.
* Cole: I see it. A wall of wounds. Nothing on this side has a family.
* Iron Bull: When we're at the tavern or back home, it goes back to normal. People get to be people again.
* Cole: What if someone attacks you in a tavern?
* Iron Bull: That's when shit gets messed up.
* Cole: The Iron Bull, in one fight, you let someone hit you so they wouldn't hit me.
* Iron Bull: Yes?
* Cole: But you hate demons.
* Iron Bull: Listen, Cole. You might be a weird, squirrelly kid, but you're my weird, squirrelly kid.
* Cole: Oh. Thank you.
* Iron Bull: Just don't make it weird. No full hugs. Maybe a one-armed slap on the back... at most. 
* Cole: All right.
* Iron Bull: You're a fast little guy, Cole.
* Cole: Do you wish you were faster, the Iron Bull?
* Iron Bull: Nah. Just as soon stand there and let 'em come to me when they're ready to die.
* Cole: Then it's them, not you. You don't want to kill. You want to defend.
* Iron Bull: Hey, don't go around saying crap like that. I like killing.
* Cole: But you give them a chance. You make them choose. So it's their fault.
* Iron Bull: Just... come on, kid. You're making it weird.
* Iron Bull: All right, Cole, so when we run into a big guy with a shield...
* Cole:You are big, boasting, battering, and I blend behind, daggers in darkness, one-two-three.
* Iron Bull: Assuming that actually means what I think it does, great!
(If the Inquisitor is in a romance with Iron Bull.)
* Cole: She/He almost says the word sometimes. Katoh. She/He tastes it in her/his mouth, sweet release a breath away, tongue tying it tenderly like you tie her/him. But she/he doesn't. For you, and for her/him because it makes it mean more. A fuller feeling, a brighter burst.
* Iron Bull: Yeah. (Coughs.) How's she/he feel about you saying this in front of everybody?
Inquisitor input
Answer 1 (I'm fine with it.)
* Inquisitor: Bull and I are consenting adults, and there's nothing wrong with what we choose to do in bed.
* Cole: Not just in bed. Sometimes it's up against the wall. Once on the war table.
* Sera (if in party): (laughs.) Hope you took him/her right up the Dales.
* Dorian (if in party): (laughs.) Ahem
* Blackwall (if in party): I look forward to informing Cullen.
Answer 2
* Inquisitor: If a rift opened up right now and swallowed me I'd be fine with that.
* Varric (if in party): Listen, do whatever works for you. You don't have to act restrained in front of us.
* Solas (if in party): Provided it tied you down first one assumed.
Answer 3
* Inquisitor: Moving on.
* Cassandra (if in party): I could not agree more.
* Vivienne (if in party): Please do.
* Cole: Oh, sorry.
(If the Inquisitor is in a romance with Iron Bull.)
* Cole: You act like you're in charge, The Iron Bull, but it's really him/her.
* Cole: S/he decides when, and you measure it carefully, enough to enjoy, to energize, but never to anger.
* Cole: S/he is tied, teased, tantalized, but it's tempered to what s/he wants. S/he submits, but you serve.
* Iron Bull: Do you mind, kid? If you take away all the mystery, it's not quite as hot.
Inquisitor input:
Answer 1 (Oh, no, it is.)
* Inquisitor: Bull? Yes it is.
* Iron Bull: Right! My mistake. Carry on, kid.
* Cole: What's an Orlesian Tickler?
* Iron Bull: I'll tell you when you're older.
* Cole: No, you won't.
* Iron Bull: No, I won't.
Answer 2 (Is it really like that?)
* Inquisitor: Bull, is he right?
* Iron Bull: The kid? Please.
* Iron Bull: Next time we're alone, I'm going to pin you down and do things your body won't believe.
* Cole: But...
* Iron Bull: (Clears throat.)
* Cole: Sorry.
== Cole and Sera ==
* Cole: She tried. The cookies were good until the hate made it bitter in your mouth.
* Sera: Not there creepy. Go rooting in that part of me and I'll stripe you up, you hear?
* Cole: Everyone heard. You're scary in another place.
* Cole: Sera. My tongue wants to whistle on the start. Sera. But it has to stay still or the r is a d. Sera. Seda. Seda. De da de da. If you try, you can say it without moving your mouth, see? Serrra. Say it enough and it stops being a word. Sera, Sera, Sera, Sera, Sera, Sera, Serraa.
* Sera: Leave me alone. 
* Cole: You like to dance, but can't. You hate to sing, but can. You should not paint. It would be very bad if you did.
* Sera: Shut it up!
(Occurs if Cole spares the Templar during his personal quest.)
* Cole: You don't have to be afraid, Sera. I won't hurt you.
* Sera: Go away.
* Cole: I won't stab you when you are looking somewhere else. I won't do that to your boots. Or that other thing to your arrows. I don't understand what that last thing is, but I won't do it either.
* Sera: Why does it keep talking at me?
* Sera: Look, could you at least not stare past my eyes? Friggin' creepy, that.
* Cole: You're not your eyes, you live behind them.
* Sera: That too. Don't do that. Creepy.
* Cole: There are songs in every part of you, Sera. Soft silly sibilant, sighing in silence, waiting for you to hear them.
* Sera: Could someone please shut him up. Or I’m going to shaft him in his creepy, little eyes.
* Cole: You...you called me “him”. Thank you!
* Sera: (yells)
* Cole: Your bow was a tree once. A girl with a long name met a boy with strong hands there.
* Cole: Her body warm, leaning against the trunk, hair tangled in branches and fingers. "Forever, no matter what."
* Cole: They cut letters in the bark. When her parents took her away, he cut the letters away to forget.
* Cole: Every time you pull it, the part that was a tree remembers. Can you feel it under your fingers?
* Cole: When you fire your bow, it hums after, every time.
* Cole: Your mind makes it quiet, but if you heard it backwards, it would sound longer, a thrum through the gut.
* Cole: But don't think about it, or you'll tense your shoulder like you do, and then your shot will go too far left.
* Sera: It's like its face doesn't know what it's saying! Eww!
* Sera: Have we been here? I mean right here, doing exactly this? It feels weird.
* Cole: Yes. But not how you mean.
* Cole: In the soft thin places, spirits push with memories that didn't happen. Or did. Or might.
* Cole: Before the door is open. They could just let the cat out, and it would always be alive. 
* Sera: It's like its face doesn't know what it's saying! Eww!
* Cole: Sera, no matter how you turn your head, your ears point to the Fade. Do you do it on purpose? 
* Sera: Don't look at it, don't look at it! 
* Sera: What? What is it?
* Cole: The sky wants to say something. It's trying, tempting, words in the wind, whistling, wandering, wasted.
* Cole: It's going to rain. Not here, but somewhere. The thunder will sound like her belly after the soup.
* Sera: Go away. (or) Why does it keep talking at me?
* Cole: I like how you see where the arrow will land without being there.
* Cole: It's falling and flying, free in flight, all the same, like looking through the Fade.
* Sera: Leave me alone. (or) It's like its face doesn't know what it's saying! Eww!
* Cole: You didn't know the custard would bring the cats.
* Cole: It made everything different. No one slipped, but the tails were like little people, bobbing as they lapped it up.
* Sera: That's right about enough. (or) Shut it up
(After Subjected to His Will)
* Sera: Creepy is staring again! Aren't you supposed to be getting better or something? Less like you?
* Cole: I'm still me. I just remember more.
* Sera: Well, do it somewhere else. Ugh! He's still just... wrong.
* Cole: Sera, you're confused. I can help.
* Cole: The joke means the horns on the cow's head, but there are different horns that make noise when you blow them.
* Cole: It's funny because the cow horns and music horns are very different. Cullen explains it better.
* Sera: Heard enough, yeah?
== Cole and Solas ==
* Cole: You're different, Solas. Sharper. You're in both places.
* Solas: I visit the Fade regularly. Perhaps you are sensing traces of it.
* Solas: You are a spirit who crossed the Veil and took human form.
* Cole: Spirit or demon.
* Solas: The two are not so dissimilar, Cole.
* Solas: While the world may exert a pull in one direction or another, the choice is ultimately yours.
* Cole: It's brighter here. Glittering. Glaring. Glinting. I can't...
* Solas: It's a mild tremor in the Veil. Nothing to worry about. Focus on what is here, in this world.
* Cole: But... what is here?
* Solas: Feel the ground, the breath in your lungs, fabric rustling against your skin.
* Cole: (Breathes.) Thank you.
* Solas: It's nothing. It can be overwhelming for anyone.
* Solas: How go your attempts to ease the pain of those at Skyhold, Cole?
* Cole: I made the scullery maid stop crying and one of the boys in the stable is happier. Some of the servants are angry. My help makes work for them. Do you want me to stop?
* Solas: No. You exist to help others. You are kindness, compassion, caring. If you stop giving comfort, you would twist into something else, as you did before I suspect.
* Cole: Yes. I will not be that again.
* Solas: Good. Never forget your purpose. It is a noble one, even if this world does not understand.
* Cole: You are quiet, Solas.
* Solas: Unless I have something to say, yes.
* Cole: No, inside. I don't hear your hurt as much. Your song is softer, subtler, not silent but still.
* Solas: How small the pain of one man seems when weighed against the endless depths of memory, of feeling, of existence. That ocean carries everyone. And those of us who learn to see its currents move through life with their fewer ripples.
* Cole: There is pain though, still within you.
* Solas: And I never said that there was not.
* Cole: You don't need to envy me, Solas. You can find happiness in your own way.
* Solas: I apologize for disturbing you, Cole. I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths.
* Cole: They are not gone so long as you remember them.
* Solas: I know.
* Cole: But you could let them go.
* Solas: I know that as well.
* Cole: You didn't do it to be right. You did it to save them.
* Inquisitor: Solas, what is Cole talking about?
* Solas: A mistake. One of many made by a much younger elf who was certain he knew everything.
* Cole: You weren't wrong, though.
* Solas: Thank you, Cole.
Or
* Inquisitor: Cole, I think Solas would like you to stop.
* Solas: It is no bother, Inquisitor. Cole is a spirit of compassion and this world is too bleak to spurn compassion offered freely. I will never know that for certain, Cole, but thank you for saying it.
(Occurs after completing All New, Faded for Her)
* Cole: Bright and brilliant, he wanders the ways, walking unwaking, searching for wisdom... 
* Solas: I do not need you to do that, Cole.
* Cole: Your friend wanted you to be happy, even though she knew you wouldn't be.
* Solas: (Sighs.) Could you... if you would remember her, could you do it as I would?
* Cole: He comes to me as though the Fade were just another wooded path to walk without a care in search of wisdom.
* Cole: We share the ancient mysteries, the feelings lost, forgotten dreams, unseen for ages, now beheld in wonder.
* Cole: In his own way, he knew wisdom, as no man or spirit had before.
* Solas: Thank you.
(Occurs after completing All New, Faded for Her)
* Cole: I am sorry your friend died, Solas.
* Solas: Thank you, Cole.
* Cole: I didn't know there were spirits of wisdom.
* Solas: There are few. Spirits form as a reflection of this world and its passions.
* Solas: We will never lack for spirits of rage, or hunger, or desire. The world gives them plenty to mirror.
* Solas: The gentler spirits are far more rare. We can ill afford the loss of even one spirit of wisdom, or faith...
* Solas: Or compassion.
* Cole: I will try not to die.
* Solas: Do that, please.
(Occurs after completing All New, Faded for Her)
* Cole: Is there a way to save more spirits, Solas?
* Solas: Not until the Veil is healed. The rifts draw spirits through, and the shock makes demons of them.
* Cole: Pushing through makes you be yourself. You can hold onto the you.
* Cole: Being pulled through means you don't have enough you. You become what batters you, bruises your being.
* Solas: Yes, exactly. Deliberately crossing the Veil requires that a spirit form will, personality.
* Solas: That concept of self gives a spirit the chance to maintain its nature.
* Solas: Wrenched into this world unwillingly by the rifts, spirits suffer the same fate as my friend.
* Cole: Then we will help them.
* Cole: If it helps enough people, it becomes more... wandering, wishing, touched by them, Maker loves you, and it grows.
* Cole: But I am me. Will I be more one day, if I help enough? Is this a task, timed, temporary?
* Solas: No. It is a mistake to ascribe human motivations to them.
* Cole: So I am always this?
* Solas: You are always you.
(References the television show Touched by an Angel)
(if Cole becomes more human)
*Solas: How do you feel, Cole, now that you dealt with the Templar?
*Cole: I don't know. He hurt me... hurt the real Cole. I'm angry at him.
*Cole: I can't let that go. I have to become more, let it make me real.
*Solas: You may well become fully human, after all. I never thought to see it.
*Cole: When did you see it before?
*Solas: I did not say that I had.
*Cole: No, you didn't. It's harder to hear, sometimes. Sorry.
*Solas: Good luck, Cole. You have taken a difficult road.
(if Cole becomes more human)
* Solas: How do you feel, Cole? Are you...
* Cole: I am me. I cannot be bound, broken. I will help the hurt and kill the killers.
* Solas: I see. I... let me know if I can help.
(if Cole remains a spirit)
* Solas: Are you well, Cole?
* Cole: Well wishing, waiting for once. Clean and clear, uncluttered.
* Solas: I am glad to hear it.
* Cole: Can I help you? You healed my hurt, but yours is old inside, vast across the Veil.
* Solas: I am fine, thank you. There are others who need your help more urgently.
* Cole: Yes.
(if Cole remains a spirit)
* Solas: Do you wish you can return to the Fade, Cole?
* Cole: I can. I am light, unlittered. I can slip back across a small kind thing.
* Solas: Yet, you remain.
* Cole: I can help here.
* Solas: Then for as long as you remain, I am glad of your company.
(If the Inquisitor romanced Solas.)
* Cole: (If the Inquisitor had vallaslin removed.) Ar lasa mala revas. You are so beautiful. But then you turned away. Why?
* Solas: I had no choice.
* Cole: She is bare-faced, embarrassed, and she doesn't know. She thinks it's because of her.
(Or)
* Cole: (If the Inquisitor's vallaslin was not removed.) Stop, you're perfect exactly as you are. But then you turned away. Why?
* Solas: I had no choice.
* Cole: She feels her face, marked, marred without malice. She didn't know. She thinks it's why you walked away.
* Solas: You cannot heal this, Cole. Please, let it go.
* Inquisitor: Perhaps Cole can get a better answer from you than I did.
* Cole: He hurts, an old pain from before, when everything sang the same.
* Cole: You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't.
* Cole: They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them... (Gasps.) Where did it go?
* Solas: I apologize, Cole. That is not a pain you can heal.
(Or)
* Inquisitor: I would rather not discuss it, Cole.
* Cole: I'm sorry.
* Solas: It was my doing, not yours.
*Cole: She wants a Chantry, but it does other things instead. 
* Solas: She did not need a Chantry, she needed to remember her faith. 
* Cole: But it also spent time with her. It wanted to fall, feeling. 
* Solas: They are always attracted to the world of the living. 
* Cole: Why did it only talk facing one way?
* Solas: We all have a face we want to show, and a face we we do not.
(References the film The Bishop's Wife)
* Cole: It sees him ready to jump. Pain pounding, pulsing, life of frustration can finally fall, to freeze.
* Solas: Ah, yes.  
* Cole: It holds him high, shows the hole, where everything falls without him. He never needs to leave. He matters here. 
* Solas: That is one interpretation, yes. 
* Cole: You think it is different.
* Solas: I think he fell, and it held him as he died, leaving him with images that told him his life was worthwhile. 
* Cole: That's much sadder. But yes. Calm, comfort, as the cold takes him away.
(References the film It's A Wonderful Life)
* Cole: It makes sense. It holds them as they die. But then it's a man, and he wants a woman. Why?
* Solas: When they possess people, they often indulge in feelings they have never before experienced. 
* Cole: But it changed. It is blank, black, blunted from being. It never wanted before. 
* Solas: Have you felt no interest in women since you came through the Veil? 
* Cole: No. 
(References the film Meet Joe Black)
* Cole: They can only return to the Maker if they become real. Why can't they be forgiven as they are? 
* Solas: People say they lack the ability to learn or grow. 
* Cole: Yes.
* Solas: But the more contact you have with this world, the more ability you gain. 
* Cole: Why would they want to prove the Maker wrong? He's already far away. 
* Solas: It isn't about right and wrong. It's about attention, when you think you have been forgotten. 
* Cole: And rolling the ball so it goes in the hole.
(References the film Dogma)
* Cole: A war in the Fade, waged with human hate. (Shudders.) I should never want to see that.
* Solas: It would be a terrible thing.
* Cole: It was wrong to hide it in the child. It hurt her.
(References the 1995 film The Prophecy)
* Cole: They left for love, and then love lost them. More pain, more joy than anyone can bear, and yet they embrace it.
* Solas: How could they not?
(References the film City of Angels)
* Cole: It was a game, but more than a game. It meant he would get a family.
* Solas: Competition brings passion, Cole, and passion lets people attach import to trivial things.
* Cole: Why didn't they help at the end?
* Solas: People wish to accomplish the truly great things on their own.
* Cole: They didn't give the boy what he wanted.
* Solas: They did. The boy got a family.
* Cole: They gave him a new one. He wanted his old one. I would have done it better.
* Solas: The wise must sometimes give people what they need, not what they want.
(References the film Angels in The Outfield)
* Cole: Why would they want to make people fight? Why would they fight the Maker?
* Solas: It is easier for people to believe that they were tricked into making terrible decisions. 
* Cole: The brothers shouldn't fight. They should tell their troubles. Their father didn't teach them to talk. 
* Solas: Often a problem, yes. 
(References the television show Supernatural)
=== Other Companions' Comments ===
(Other companions will comment on Cole and Solas' cryptic conversations the first time they hear them. These comments always occur immediately after any of the slightly obscure pieces of dialogue.)
(if Cassandra is in the party) 
* Cassandra: What are you two talking about? 
* Solas: It will make little sense unless one has spent more time in the Fade. 
(if Vivienne is in the party) 
* Vivienne: You should not encourage that thing. 
* Cole: Solas is not a thing. 
* Solas: Well said. 
(if Iron Bull is in the party) 
* Iron Bull: Right. You two just work whatever that is out of your system. Like poison. Weird-ass poison. 
* Cole: It's good. I can explain. 
* Iron Bull: I really didn't ask. 
(if Dorian is in the party) 
* Dorian: It's fascinating listening to you two. Like working out a puzzle with only half the pieces.
* Solas: I'm pleased you're enjoying yourself.
(if Blackwall is in the party)
* Blackwall: The two of you make no sense sometimes.
* Solas: That is a matter of perspective.
(if Sera is in the party)
* Sera: You're both nutters.
* Cole: You want to be the one with the words that wander.
* Solas: True.
* Sera: Stop it!
(if Varric is in the party)
* Varric: There are times I almost understand the two of you.
* Solas: You are a rare soul, master Tethras.
== Cole and Varric ==
* Varric: So you could make people not see you, Cole. Can you do that for other people?
* Cole: Yes. It makes me tired, and doesn't work if they're loud. Or angry. Or bright.
* Varric: Hm, what about things? Can you make people ignore an object?
* Cole: Maybe. Like what?
* Varric: Oh, I don't know. A book, or a box... or a crate... or a wagon full of crates?
* Sera (if in party): Turning creepy loose on your stuff? Not a good idea, dwarfy.
* Solas (if in party): Smuggling? That is certainly a... unique use of a spirit's innate powers of persuasion.
* Cassandra (if in party): Dwarf...
* Varric: I'm just asking.
───────
* Cole: They were staring at me.
* Varric: Who's "they," Kid?
* Cole: In Skyhold. The servants in the courtyard. They were looking at me and whispering.
* Varric: It's the hat. Kind of hard to miss. Don't worry about it.
* Cole: What's wrong with my hat?
* Varric: That's going to take a while. I'll explain "clothes" when we get back.
───────
* Cole: Should I change my hat?
* Varric: Nah, if they're busy staring at your hat, they're ignoring all your other flaws.
* Cole: A silk shirt with three buttons left undone.
* Varric: Exactly! If you can't be flawless--and no one can--be flashy. Nobody will know the difference.
───────
* Varric: How are you holding up, Kid? You've been quiet for a while.
* Cole: My shoelaces keep coming untied.
* Varric: You're doing fine.
* Cole: Can you talk to them? They don't listen to me.
* Varric: Maybe not so fine... Don't talk to them, Kid. Just tie them in knots.
───────
* Cole: I like traveling with Dwarves.
* Varric: Glad to hear it, Kid.
* Cole: You're quiet, but the old song still echoes inside, almost like Templars.
───────
* Cole: But he died at the end of the last book. If he comes back, the readers will be confused.
* Varric: Okay, delving into my personal life is one thing, but a writer needs some privacy.
* Varric: So, Kid, why human?
* Cole: It was the shape that would help.
* Varric: Huh. Most people don't pick a shape. I guess I was hoping for something deeper with that question.
* Cole: It had to be him. But harmless. The him he wanted that wouldn't hurt.
* Varric: Well that's... deeper. I think.
* Varric: Hey, Kid, back in the last village that farmer was looking right past you. Why didn't you let him see you?
* Cole: He didn't need me.
* Varric: Maybe not, but you could learn something by talking with him.
* Cole: What would I learn? I can hear when they need me.
* Varric: You could learn not to scare them so badly that they have to forget you.
* Cole: I'll... try.
* Cole: How do you make them calm?
* Varric: Who, Kid?
* Cole: Everyone. You talk and the fear fades, slipping to sleep. Not always happy, but not angry.
* Varric: Most people are like cats. They either puff up to look dangerous or they crouch down and hope you don't see them. You show them you're not a victim or threat, and they're in your lap and purring before you know it.
* Cole: Cats swat my feet even when no one can see me.
* Varric: That explains a lot.
* Varric: How are you feeling, Kid?
* Cole: "If you don't get some sunshine, you'll wilt." She says she's not a plant, she's fine, but falling, faltering, foolish. Blood on her hands, people and demons always end in trouble. Too many Daisies in this garden. 
* Cole: I am good, Varric. I am me. You don't need to worry... but thank you for caring.
* Varric: All right. Well let me know if you ever... yeah.
(Referencing a conversation between Varric and Merrill in Dragon Age II)
* Cole: The heft in my hands, solid, strong, but curving, careful, like her. Soot, smudge on her cheek, tiny scars on her fingers, old fires, her little frowns when she twists her gear ever so slightly.
* Varric: Yup. That's her, Kid.
* Cole: Your stories aren't real. But then people read them and they are!
* Varric: Get the readers invested and you'll have them forever.
* Cole: So many people reading, dreaming, feeling. Spirits spill around the veil making shapes. Reality from writing!
* Varric: I've got fans in the Fade? Well, that's something. Shame I'll never meet them.
* Cole: Do you write to reach across? To hear the song that was sundered?
* Varric: I'm... not sure what that even means, Kid, but probably?
* Varric: Hey, Kid, what would a pride demon say to weaken a warrior's resolve? I need something that gets under her skin.
* Cole: Does she use a big sword, or a sword and shield?
* Varric: One of the big two-handers.
* Cole: "The next time you imagine him touching you, someone you love will die."
* Varric: Well, that went a little dark. Who's "him" in this?
* Cole: She knows who he is. Does it not work for your book?
* Varric: No, it works great. Just glad you're not that kind of demon.
* Varric: Okay, Kid, try it again like we practiced.
* Cole: Two pairs beats one pair. Four of a kind beats two pairs. She slips the ace of dragons into a thigh-high boot, calls to the barman for another round. Blondie stares at the table, angry, always angry.
* Varric: Focus, Kid, you can't beat four of a kind with bad memories.
* Cole: Do they ever stop talking to you?
* Varric: Nouns, Kid. Does who ever stop talking to me?
* Cole: The people in your head. They aren't real, but they have voices and thoughts and sometimes you see through their eyes.
* Varric: If they stopped I wouldn't have to write so much.
* Cole: I think I have it. Let me try again.
* Varric: Alright, Kid, let's see what you've got.
* Cole: Knock, knock.
* Varric: Who's there?
* Cole: Cole.
* Varric: Cole who?
* Cole: It's me, Cole. That is my name.
* Varric: No, no. You're still not getting it. Sorry, Kid.
* Cole: Knock, knock.
* Varric: Okay, I'll bite. Who's there?
* Cole: The Inquisition.
* Varric: The Inquisition who?
* Cole: That's who we are, Varric.
* Varric: Er... yeah. That's not working either. You didn't get that one from Sera, did you?
* Varric: Okay, try it again, you'll get it.
* Cole: Knock, knock.
* Varric: Who's there?
* Cole: Me.
* Varric: (Sighs.) Me who?
* Cole: Me, and I'm telling a knock knock joke.
* Varric: Uh... that was... closer. Keep trying.
* Varric: So, Kid, you don't have any formal combat training at all?
* Cole: No? I go where the knife needs to be.
* Varric: ...Er. Whatever works for you.
* Cole: Knock, knock.
* Varric: Sure, why not. Who's there?
* Cole: Dragon.
* Varric: Dragon who?
* Cole: Dragons really don't like wyverns.
* Varric: Sorry, kid. Still not quite getting it. Closer, though!
== Cole and Vivienne ==
* Cole: Solas doesn't fear spirits, Vivienne. Why do you?
* Vivienne: Your apostate friend did not benefit from formal training in a Circle.
* Solas: How unfortunate for me.
* Cole: The Circle makes you afraid? Are the demons stronger there?
* Vivienne: The Circle taught me the tricks demons play to gain the trust of any mage foolish enough to listen.
* Vivienne: Solas seems to trust you. How long before you turn on him?
* Cole: Solas is my friend!
* Vivienne: But you'd like to be more, wouldn't you? You could be together forever if you possessed him.
* Vivienne: Is that not truly what you want? A body to claim your own, so you never have to return to the Fade?
(If Cole is made more spirit)
* Cole: I have a body. And Solas has nothing to fear from me. Neither do you... unless you attack first. I like the Fade, but I can help here. I could help you if you let me.
* Solas: Well said Cole. Although I doubt she will ever accept.
(If Cole is made more human, or if his personal quest has not yet been completed)
* Cole: I can't return to the Fade. Sometimes I wish I could.
* Solas: Ignore her, Cole. She would hurt what she does not understand.
* Cole: You're afraid. You don't have to be.
* Vivienne: My dear Inquisitor, please restrain your pet demon. I do not want it addressing me.
(If Inquisitor supports Cole.)
** Inquisitor: He's not doing any harm, Vivienne.
** Vivienne: It's a demon, darling. All it can do is harm.
(If Inquisitor supports Vivienne.)
** Inquisitor: Cole, Vivienne doesn't want to talk right now. 
** Cole: She's afraid!
* Cole: Everything bright, roar of anger as the demon rears. No, I will not fall. No one will control me ever again.
* Cole: Flash of white as the world comes back. Shaking, hollow, Harrowed, but smiling at templars to show them I'm me.
* Cole: I am not like that. I can protect you. If Templars come for you, I will kill them.
* Vivienne: Delightful.
* Cole: Grass doesn't mind anything. People walk on it, horses eat it, it's always content.
* Vivienne: It's probably thankful it doesn't have ears, and can't listen to you.
* Cole: Stepping into the parlor, hem of my gown snagged, no, adjust before I go in, must look perfect.
* Vivienne: My dear, your pet is speaking again. Do silence it.
* Cole: Voices inside. Marquis Alphonse. 
* Cole: "I do hope Duke Bastien puts out the lights before he touches her. But then, she must disappear in the dark."
* Cole: Gown tight between my fingers, cold all over. Unacceptable. Wheels turn, strings pull.
* Cole: He hurt you. You left a letter, let out a lie so he would do something foolish against the Inquisition. A trap.
* Vivienne: Inquisitor, as your demon lacks manners, perhaps you could get Solas to train it.
* Cole: Do you feel spirits move around you when you cast a spell?
* Cole: Bits of them push through with your magic, tiny, a wisp of a wisp, free before falling back. They pool around you, water in a cup, defined, deafened, hearing only your song. 
* Cole: They want to skate, scintillate on skin. You made them them. Their Maker.
* Vivienne: Now. I need. A bath.
* Cole: Nugs are kind, Almost everything is bigger than they, but they're still happy.
* Cole: If you hold out your hand, they will nuzzle it. It's how they call you "friend."
* Vivienne: Remember, Inquisitor, the harmless-looking ones are always the most dangerous.
* Cole: Nugs aren't dangerous.
* Vivienne: I was not referring to nugs.
* Cole: Are you still afraid of me, Vivienne?
* Vivienne: Are you still talking?
* Cole: Dorian is like you, Vivienne.
* Vivienne: I think not. 
* Dorian: Vivienne, the poor thing is trying to pay you a compliment. How so, Cole?
* Cole: The Veil sings around both of you. It whispers through you and makes you both brighter. 
* Vivienne: The same could be said of any mage. Beyond that, I have little in common with a noble from Tevinter.
* Cole: No. For most mages, it's a tool. A toil. You make it you. 
* Dorian: Also, we clearly have the best fashion sense of anyone around.
* Vivienne: True, but I hardly expect the Fade to notice.
(If Dorian is not in the party)
* Vivienne: Nonsense, as usual.
* Cole: You were not at the Spire when the rebellion started Vivienne. I tried to protect the mages, I would remember you.
* Vivienne: What were you doing at the Spire demon?
* Cole: I didn't know what I was. When mages were afraid, their pain called me and I set them free.
* Vivienne: You helped mages escape?
* Cole: I killed them so the templars couldn't hurt them anymore.
* Vivienne: Of course. I should have guessed that a demon's help would end in blood.
* Cole: It was wrong. I'm sorry.
* Vivienne: Cole... you were the Ghost of the Spire.
* Cole: Yes.
* Vivienne: Your murders stirred the Circle into a frenzy. That was what brought the attention of the templars.
* Cole: The templars hurt mages.
* Vivienne: Stupid, panicking mages who became a danger to themselves and others because of you!
* Vivienne: You brought matters in the Spire to a head. Without you, there would be no rebellion.
* Vivienne: Countless deaths are on your head, demon. Are you satisfied with the result of your protection?
* Cole: You're lying. You're... twist the words right, and it will show its true form. Blood or banishment, either will suffice.
* Cole: You like the templars. You think they were right.
* Cole: You don't need to be protected.
* Vivienne: It can learn after all.
* Cole: A sour smell in the Tower library, rotten meat and ashes. Too quiet without the apprentices. Something crunches underfoot. Burned finger bones glitter in the ash like pearls. Ice in my veins. The archivist... what was her name?
* Vivienne: Get. Out.
* Cole: Why did they kill her? She was just like them!
* Vivienne: They "helped" her. Just like you did. Anyone who wouldn't fight for freedom was "freed" by fire and lightning. Stay out of my thoughts demon. My memories are my own.
* Vivienne: You are no longer a danger of being bound by enemies of the Inquisition, demon?
* Cole: Yes. I am no danger now.
* Vivienne: No more than you were before.
* Cole: You worried for me.
* Vivienne: I was concerned about you, demon.
* Vivienne: You have grown adept at killing. If you cannot be gone, I would prefer you remain pointed at the enemy.
* Cole: No. You were worried. The part of you that forgets I'm me cared. You want it to go away.
* Cole: You think caring makes you weak. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone.
* Vivienne: Why are you still here? If you truly worried about being bound by blood magic, you would leave.
* Cole: Where? If I go, the mages could find me.
* Vivienne: Then perhaps you should go further.
* Cole: You don't use blood magic, Vivienne.
* Vivienne: Of course not. Such magic is a tool for the weak. That the Warden mages resorted to it is pitiful.
* Cole: Trembling, my knife at his throat. Not this, not this, swore I'd do whatever they asked but not this. In death, sacrifice. His hand grips my wrist, pulls the blade across his throat. I'm sorry.
* Vivienne: As I said... pitiful.
* Vivienne: Were you sad, watching your fellow spirits banished at Adamant, Cole?
* Cole: No. They were free, unbound, banished back where they belonged. I liked watching the rocks break the walls. Falling fortresses, old dead fears cracking like flakes of blood. It was better than last time.
* Vivienne: "Last time"? Are we to understand you have been to Adamant before?
* Cole: Yes.
* Vivienne: So your visit to Adamant was "better" this time, despite the arrival of an Archdemon?
* Cole: It came last time, too.
* Cole: You were happy at the Winter Palace, Vivienne.
* Vivienne: Your point, demon?
* Cole: You were still sharp, but happy. Golden, glittering, everything gleamed. Rules that let you win.
* Vivienne: One does not wish to brag.
* Cole: That's why you're happier being a noble than a mage. You fear demons, not people.
* Vivienne: People can only kill you.
* Cole: Gown perfect, shoes perfect, hat perfect, staff a symbol, not a weapon. My room, my people. Mine.
* Vivienne: Out, please.
* Cole: I don't understand Celene and Gaspard.
* Vivienne: I shall try to suppress my shock.
* Cole: There's no hurt. Nothing there touched you.
* Vivienne: Did you expect me to get misty-eyed over who rose to glory and who paid the price demon? It is the Game. No matter what transpired in the Winter Palace, I took steps to strengthen my position.
* Cole: How do you make a Game that you always win?
* Vivienne: Practice.
* Cole: Uncultured barbarian witch.
* Vivienne: I beg your pardon, demon?
* Cole: Jaws ache, dress stiff, binding. Years of work, favors fought, deals dealt, and the witch usurped my position.
* Vivienne: Remove yourself from my head.
* Cole: You're angry at Morrigan. She took what you had without working.
* Vivienne: She took nothing. If Empress Celene wished the counsel of some untrained witch, she was free to seek it.
* Cole: Celene did not make you go away. She respected you.
* Vivienne: She feared the consequences of angering me.
* Cole: Wind is always going someplace. What happens when it gets there?
* Vivienne: Apparently, it dons a hat and prattles endlessly.
* Cole: So many spirits clustering around. Pressing against the Veil, calling your name. Vivienne! Vivienne! Look at me!
* Vivienne: I get that at court too darling. They get used to disappointment. Courtiers always do.
* Vivienne: With so many rifts marking the world, I am surprised any demons nearby do not fall back through.
* Vivienne: It would be a simple matter for such misguided creatures to return to their home and leave this confusing world behind.
* Vivienne: Would that not be easier for everyone involved, my dear?
* Cole: Demons can't hear you. It hurts too much. Nothing here makes sense to them.
* Vivienne: (Sighs.)
== References ==
Category:Dragon Age: Inquisition dialogues
de:Cole/Dialoge