I just want everyone to remember how precious Cole is. 

And thank you for 3500+ followers, guys! :D

Boinking Fade Spirits: A Very Important Meta

Continuing in the vein of fantasizing out loud about what I want to see in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, I think it would be great if the game would allow players to romance and/or sleep with a Fade spirit. Below I’ll elaborate on what we know about Fade spirit sexuality, both as a review and as a way to demonstrate that a Fade spirit romance would be consistent with prior lore.

Cole/Compassion 

We know it’s possible for a Fade spirit to fall in (romantic/sexual) love because that is one potential outcome of Cole/Compassion’s character arc in Dragon Age: Inquisition.  If the player’s influence leads Cole to become more human during Subjected to His Will (his companion quest), he eventually pursues a romance with the minstrel/bard Maryden in the Trespasser DLC, set two years after the end of the main story. We’re introduced to the relationship during a heartwarming scene during the companion catch-up conversations, transcribed below:

It’s implied that the attraction has turned physical during a banter in Trespasser (emphasis mine):

Granted, by this time Cole isn’t a “pure” or “true” Fade spirit (for lack of a better term), given that the romance only begins if Cole has turned more human over time (otherwise, spirit-Cole likes Maryden as a person and helps her out but has no romantic interest in her; in fact, he even facilitates a romance between Maryden and another human, Krem, during Trespasser). It is, however, evidence that Fade spirits can come to develop romantic feelings for humans (or rather mortals), at least under certain circumstances.  

But what about sex with Fade spirits?

the way cole makes varric conflicted is so delicious i think. most of the characters are uncomfortable around him because they're genuinely terrified of demons and the fade and magic in general but varric is a completely different case. the thing is, he doesn't see cole as a demon at all because he doesn't want to.

he acts like he doesn't care about this stuff. that's a little weird kiddo around here and he wants to befriend him. teach him something even. why not. that's a little guy who's a little too good with knives and can't pick up a single social clue at the same time.

but there it is. the "he could have been a person" line if cole is made more spirit. varric is so upset about it because it's not like he saw cole as, well, a spirit who got a little too human. for varric, he was a human first, a weird kid second. the spirit part didn't even come into consideration because. well. it would make him question things. you know where it goes.

every time he starts bitching about anders he brings up justice. justice drove him mad. justice took over him. justice this, justice that. justice is a scapegoat because the thought that someone varric was friends with was actually willing to blow up the chantry and it wasn't just some evil demon's wish is a very unsettling one. varric's friends may be crazy but they're cool and make no irreversible life decisions of that extent, don't they? blondie turned out this way because he let a demon possess him and make him do terrible things. completely out of the blue.

it's either varric's ex-friend has never been driven crazy by some inherently evil entity and there was a whole other person around him all along and that anger he used to mock was coming from the same place as compassion's urge to become a killer or that little weird but kind kid he started to care about has never been and will never be a real kid. he can't have both. a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has never picked a side in his life