Cole

{Hello, everyone, Sam here. This is another ruiner warning, as this entry blatantly gives the answers to the mysteries surrounding Cole. I quite enjoyed finding out about him gradually, and thought you might, too. So, proceed with caution and, as always, thank you for your time. -Sam}

AKA:
Spirit of Solving Minor Problems
He of the Hat
Ghost of the Spire
Kid (Varric nickname)

Cole was one of my companions during my inquisiting, and is also one of the most unique beings on Thedas. His story is an odd one, as well, because it begins, ends, then begins again. Cole was a boy who lived a tortured life because he showed magical powers at a young age. These powers also allowed him to become friends with a spirit of compassion, but he still ended up killing his father, who had killed Cole’s mother and attempted to kill him, and was taken by the Templars. They threw him in a cell in the White Spire of Val Royeaux, forgot about him, and he died shortly after. And then, the compassion spirit, who had been with him the entire time, somehow became Cole, taking on his physical form and memories. He stayed in the Spire for a time, killing mages before they could be tortured or made tranquil, but left shortly before the start of the Mage-Templar war. We met when he arrived at Haven to warn the Inquisition about Corypheus’ impending attack and stuck with us until we reached Skyhold. There, I recruited him and his incredible hat into the Inquisition.

Cole appears to be young human with a gaunt, almost sickly, appearance. He could be mistaken for a demon possessing a body, but this is definitely not the case. He is an unprecedented combination of spirit and person, and this duality grants him an offbeat personality with unusual special abilities to match. Most people don’t notice him at all, even if he is standing right next to them, and the majority of those who happen to catch a glimpse of the man completely forget about him soon after. He is able to see into people’s minds to a degree, particularly those who are in pain. This causes him to often talk in an extremely cryptic manner, pointing out things that nobody else, perhaps save the person experiencing them, can see. His nature as a partial spirit of compassion compels him to comfort people, sometimes in very odd ways, but ways that always end up helping in the end. Idle chatter around Skyhold about some bizarre minor event always led to Cole easing someone’s pain. For example, the burning of turnips in a fire seems to have no practical use whatsoever, until you’re told that a grievously wounded soldier slipped into death peacefully because he smelled his mother’s turnip soup before passing on. Cole’s time with the Inquisition definitely changed him, though. He was just as confused as anyone else about who and what he was and had difficulty reconciling his combined pasts and how they would affect him moving forward. Ultimately, because the spirit of compassion had chosen to become Cole, Varric and I pushed him to embrace more of his human side. He did so, and his ability to move around unnoticed diminished and people began to remember their encounters with him as a result of Cole becoming more of a part of our world. His empathic abilities remain, however, as does his fabulous hat, and he still uses both of these powerful tools to bring peace and contentment to as many people as possible.