I wanted to add (but it didn't seem relevant enough to put in the video) at 2:17 "-something only spirits do" --> There's several occasions where Inky is described as glowing/bright (most likely due to the Anchor/Mark) - these are comments made by Cole "you're too bright, like counting birds against the sun", Sera "the important thing is; you glow?", and the Augur "the man/woman who blazes like fire" (JoH dlc). I don't know if it's 100% the Mark (very probably is), but I found it interesting how it keeps getting said (and by who), especially given in retrospect, it seems to me that no one (except Solas, perhaps, in his own words) should have been able to survive unlocking the orb. Food for thought. But, like I said, this wasn't relevant to the video; I just wanted to add it something in case I forgot!

Always loved the everyone is a spirit theory

I was never big on this theory when I first heard it, and while I'm still not quite convinced on "spirits possessing newborns", this nevertheless has given me food for thought.

After binge-ing the comics, short stories, playing through 3 world states and begining to read all the books... I'm just devouring all DA content on KZfaq. I love theories, this sounds like it's going to be fun🏆💪🏼

I'm not so sure about people being spirits in Dragon Age. If anything I would say a developing baby takes on a wisp, which is the most basic form the Fade has to offer. For a baby to be possessed by a spirit would likely result in a more advanced or intelligent person. But as we know, infants don't know how to talk or interact with the world. They have to learn it all.. A baby with a spirit would at least know things. But for the record, I don't think infants get possessed by wisps either. It's just that if anything from the Fade does possess them, I think it'd have to be a wisp since it exists at the same level as an infant already and hasn't developed any sort of affinity toward any emotion or concept yet. Another major example that this theory is wrong is the plot surrounding Kieran and Urthemiel. The Dark Ritual made it so Urthemiel's soul could possess the newly forming Kieran as a zygote, and yet in DA:I we can see that Kieran has his own soul as well as Urthemiel's, and will retain his after Flemeth extracts Urthemiel's. If this theory were true, then I think Urthemiel's soul would have been the only one to take Kieran's newly forming body in the womb. Because if that's what a spirit or wisp does during development, then certainly the same would be true of an old god's soul. Now as for Cole, I think what Solas was saying about him was actually just his own speculation. I think this explanation gets debunked, or maybe Solas was purposely lying in order to protect Cole. But in Cole's personal quest it's revealed that Compassion did possess Cole's corpse after the real Cole starved to death. An example that I didn't see in this video is how Justice possessed Kristof's corpse. Justice will even remark that the body he possesses has memories, and he even remembers Aura when he sees her. This explains any side story about awakened corpses thinking they are the person who died. These are likely just spirits twisted by the bodies they inhabit. The Necromancer specialization even hints at this. When you call forth a spirit to mimic the form of the person or creature you kill, it fights as that target until the spell expires. Regarding Justinia, she obviously died in the explosion along with everyone else. The Spirit of Faith that was watching over her likely intervened to protect the Herald from being killed, thinking that would be Justinia's wish. So it assumed her likeness afterward to lead you out of the Fade and away from the Nightmare. As for actual souls being called back to the real world, like how Yavana does to Claudio, that is either her calling back his actual soul with bloodmagic from the Fade, or maybe she was just calling forth a spirit that would think it's Claudio and be able to access his memories. In the latter case, I think that would just show how easy it is for a spirit to genuinely believe that it is the person it inhabits. My theory is that in Dragon Age, a person's soul just forms naturally from the physical world, and later forms a connection with the Fade. And the only exception with dwarves is that their consciousness doesn't form a connection with the Fade. Instead they likely form a connection with the titans or possibly nearby lyrium veins. And that's where they get their beliefs on The Stone. Whereas non-dwarves just go to the Fade when they die. From there they will either go to the Maker if their faith is strong enough, or else they will just end up in the Fade and probably break down into energy that will then be reused as the material to create wisps, which will either become spirits or demons. It's also possible that their souls become magical energy, or even the energy that seeps through the veil and becomes lyrium in the real world. Now wisps can eventually become spirits or demons based on how they develop. Spirits and demons usually embody one concept or emotion and then remain that way for centuries. But some spirits and demons manage to go beyond that nature, and they take on the characteristics of actual souls. The evanuris, ancient elves, Forbidden Ones, and Forgotten Ones are probably like this.

I always assumed this was a given, I haven't spent much time on the internet during my time as a DA fan (since origins), so I am surprised this is just a theory and people disagree with it. To me, it was just how it is lol Solas compliments Lavellan's spirit. I don't have time to get into all the details, but something along the way playing all of these games just lead me to believe everyone has a spirit (except dwarves).

sorry if you've mentioned it in the video, but i also like how in the chant of light it says how the maker created the fade and spirits, his firstborn "And His Word became all that might be: Dream and idea, hope and fear, Endless possibilities. And from it made his firstborn." and later, when he creates humans, it echoes the fade-spirit stuff in them as their very souls "Immutable, as the substance of the earth, With souls made of dream and idea, hope and fear, Endless possibilities."

I feel like this is a major part of the unrevealed lore in DA, maybe the First Spirits that made the transition to mortal were this and everyone that came after has the potential to become a Spirit like Divine Justinia. There are other videos that hint that there's something unique about Sera and spirits and I've theorized that Sera is a Spirit of Justice that was reborn or materialized as a young elf girl; also recall Old God!Kieran's comments to an elven Inquisitor that elves modified themselves somehow, Spirits making designer meat-sacks with nice pointy ears? I dunno...

What an amazing video! I have really got to play this game. I got stuck in the Hinterlands and gave up but all the Lore is so amazing! This was a great delivery in your video, you crafted it all so well it just flowed so nice

7:50 I think this is because once a mortal dies, their soul, the part of them that is left behind, is but a part of who they were in life, not the whole, not fully the same person. They're but a shard, a fraction of the whole. They are no more the original person than a severed foot is the original person.

it's weird how a "compassion spirit" immediately becomes an assassin. When he's out with the party he's the least pacifist one among us lol.

I wouldnt say possession as a infant. I think when the veil went up the spirits stuck in the waking world had to make bodies and that's how humans came to be. Elves already had made their bodies before the veil went up that's why they are so different but similar races.

This is a cool theory but I think what they're going for is just straight copied from world of warcraft. You see, in WOW there's these ancient god aspects that take dragon forms called "the old gods" and there's a spirit land called the emerald dream that I think you can visit in dreams. and that's the place that spirits come from. I forget the name the human souls come from but if it's also called the void I wouldn't be surprised.