arcaneadvisor | The Hunt For Flemeth

Index

Plot notes
Flemeth's Grimoire

An old, but lovingly cared for book, bound in leather of questionable origins. The pages smell of herbs and wood smoke. Intricate stitching on the cover marks out a leafless tree, strangely ominous in its stark appearance. Note: this bears Mythal's symbol.

Mythal is often depicted as a dragon or a female humanoid figure with dragon head and wings. The constellation "Silentir," which resembles a dragon in flight, may be related to Mythal.

Shaman notes, Stage i

You know the ways. You are her daughter, she taught you well but those with you - do they know what they march beneath? The Watchful Eye of the people we were. Is it a weight? Vengeance is a heavy weight. Many years is a heavy weight. A price is to be paid for all things. Guidance, truth, hope, justice; how heavy a price?

The sky splits. The Dragon Age lies heavily upon this world, the age of violence and the sword. The eggshell splits itself. Cracks asunder. None knew what would spill out. Dragons slumber beneath the sky same as flying. Silence is not what it was. Silence was her long before they came, the starts did not begin with the ones to give new names to them.

Tevinter came. The scourge. Before the the Blight.

Tevinter came and took before any took back. Now they say it is a horn and a wand a man in the sky holds aloft but I see scales, so did the one before me and them before and before and those after me, we will see scales, there are so many scales, covered in scales. Vengeance, the mother of vengeance. Vengeance, justice, one seeks the other, which one is first, which one is last, no balance with swords and blood and the sky screaming.

Betrayal. What other thing is there but betrayal in this world? Time and time again it comes. You look in the wrong place.

Constellation: Visus

Known as "the Watchful Eye" in common parlance, this constellation had great significance to the ancient Alamarri and Cirianne peoples of southern Thedas. The story goes that the Lady of the Skies opened one eye so that the light from her gaze could lead her people safely from the Frostbacks. When Andraste's armies marched north from their ancestral lands to wage war upon Tevinter, they were guided by the Eye, and it became the Maker's gaze—not the Lady's— leading them to victory. The sword was added later; it is said that the star that marks the point of its blade only appeared in the night sky after Andraste's death. The early Inquisition took Visus as the symbol of their holy calling when they joined the Andrastian faith: the Eye representing both their search for maleficarum and the Maker's judgment upon their actions. When the Inquisition ended and became the Seekers of Truth and the Templar Order, the templars took the sword while the Seekers retained the eye.

—From A Study of Thedosian Astronomy by Sister Oran Petrarchius

Constellation: Silentir

Referred to as "Silence" in the common parlance, the constellation Silentir is historically attributed to Dumat, the Old God of Silence and leader of the ancient Tevinter pantheon. The depiction of the constellation, however, is often debated. Some depict a dragon in flight, while others (also the most common modern depictions) show a man carrying a horn and a wand. Some scholars believe these represented scales, which would point to this constellation being a supplantation of the elven Mythal, but nothing indicates this to be more than speculation.

—From A Study of Thedosian Astronomy by Sister Oran Petrarchius

Sylvan Raids

Fires still lick at the blackened ruin of the farmstead. The mud in the yard is grey with ash and churned by footprints. Some flee westward. Others, light and slender, circle the ruin. One of your guards pulls an arrowhead from the smoking wood. "Elfshot!" He hisses.

The homesteads along the hissing fringes of the Tirashan were unprepared for the attack. You listen to the refugees' tales of a narrow moon that spread long tree-shadows, of the lithe figures that slipped between them, of arrows that sped from the night, sudden as death.

"The knife-ears drove us from our home!" one peasant cries. "We heard them, laughing from the dark!"

The Forgotten Ones

Your soldiers clash with elven archers at the forest's edge. The elves are cold-eyed, with tattoos a brilliant crimson. They extract a red price from your warriors before fleeing into the deeps. For a time, the border is untroubled.

"I've fought the Dalish before," mutters a scarred sergeant. "I've heard them call on their gods in battle. Elgar'nan for vengeance. Fen'Harel when they think all is lost. But these ones called out to no gods I've heard of before. They weren't calling out for aid; they were offering us up. Like pigs on a platter."

Geldauran's Claim

There are no gods. There is only the subject and the object, the actor and the acted upon. Those with will to earn dominance over others gain title not by nature but by deed.

I am Geldauran, and I refuse those who would exert will upon me. Let Andruil's bow crack, let June's fire grow cold. Let them build temples and lure the faithful with promises. Their pride will consume them, and I, forgotten, will claim power of my own, apart from them until I strike in mastery.

Elves refer to Flemeth as Asha'bellanar, the woman of many years, and defer to her. The Chasind call her Mother of Vengeance. There are tales of their shamans learing magic from Witches of the Wilds.

The Dalish believe that their Creators, including Mythal, were sealed away in the Fade by Fen'Harel, and that this was an act of great betrayal.

The Dalish consider Mythal to be one fo the most powerful Creators, on par with Elgar'nan. She was often their voice of reason. She also rendered judgement and enacted vengeance on behalf of her followers, but only if their causes were worthy.

Flemeth was a powerful mage of the tribal peoples of the South whose hand was sought in marriage by Conobar, an Alamarri noble. Chasind legend states that Flemeth's heart was won by a penniless poet (a bard, Osen), and that Conobar kidnapped Flemeth and killed Osen. Flemeth then appealed to 'spirits' for vengeance and took an entity into herself as an abomination, slaughtering Conobar and all his men before fleeing into the Wilds. Morrigan, however, says that the legends are incorrect. Flemeth's arrangement with Conobar was an equitable one on the part of all three of them until instead of paying Osen the gold he'd promised, Conobar killed him instead. At this point Flemeth sought vengeance, and didn't become host to a spirit until she made it to the Korcari Wilds. Note: it's likely this spirit is a reference to Mythal/the fragment of Mythal.

Flemeth: I am a fly in the ointment. I am a whisper in the shadows. I am also an old, old woman. More than that you need not know

Morrigan (The Last Court, on Flemeth): She spent most of her time trying to make me into something that would please her.

Morrigan: Mankind blunders through the world, crushing what it does not understand; elves, dragons, magic...the list is endless. We must stem the tide, or be left with nothing more than the mundane. This I know to be true.

Anything else
Keeper Marethari sought vengeance from a Witch of the Wilds after the Avvar slaughtered her husband and (prior) Keeper. It isn't confirmed that this was Flemeth but after she returned the Avvar were set upon in the forest and killed.

Marethari mentions to Hawke that she owes a debt to Flemeth that must be repaid. Note: it's likely to be the vengeance sought from the Witch of the Wilds who was indeed Flemeth.

Flemeth (to Merrill): The People bend their knee too easily.

Flemeth confirms that she was once "a woman crying out for vengeance" and that Mythal was the spirit who answered. Flemeth speaks of Mythal crying out for vengeance and Flemeth eager to provide it, planning a reckoning that will "shake the very heavens". Note: Heavens might mean Fade and/or Veil, beyond those are her murderers. Flemeth and Mythal have ceased to be separate beings, with Flemeth describing Mythal as part of her in much the same way the heart is part of one's chest.

Morrigan warns against Flemeth's plans and that the Old God ritual was a "means to an end".

Flemeth can also take into herself the spirit/essence of other magical beings as she does with Urthemiel.
Morrigan: She was after the Old God soul all along.

Mythal: In most stories, Mythal rights wrongs while exercising motherly kindness. Others paint her as dark, vengeful. Pray to Mythal, and she would smite your enemies, leaving them in agony.

Hawke, upon being saved by Flemeth is given a fragment of her (Mythal's) essence, allowing her to regenerate. This takes place during the Fall of Lothering before the option to kill Flemeth. "Must I be in only one place?" Note for pre-stage iii: Morrigan and Carver have had a talk, Morrigan needs to discuss the timing + the grimoire with trusted individuals (Thranduil and Alistair).

She may be able to visit the dreams of others; Sandal has a dream about a scary laugh and a lady standing at the foot of the bed, and an elf in Val Royeux after visiting the Temple of Mythal.

Sandal: The old lady is scary.
Bodahn: There is no old lady Sandal. How many times do I have to tell you that?
Hawke: What's this about?
Bodahn: Oh my boy sees things sometimes, says he saw an old lady standing by his bed.
Sandal: She has a scary laugh.
Bodahn: Yes well there you go.

Nobleman: You’re worrying Madame with your shouting during the night, not to mention the other servants.

Elven Butler: I can’t help it, sire. A woman comes to me in my dreams, and she whispers things…

Nobleman: You mustn’t say that, not in public. People will think you’ll be taken by a demon!

Elven Butler: She’s not a demon, sire. She says her name is Mythal, but… I will be quiet, I promise.

Spirits can join with a mortal body and be largely sublimated ito the host's personality without becoming the usual physically warped abomination that typically results from possession. Flemeth/Mythal prolongs her/their life by passing on her spirit/essence/soul to her daughters, possessing their bodies. Morrigan asks the Warden to kill Flemeth to prevent this possession. However: "a soul is not forced upon the unwilling" so she can't do it to an unwilling host. Yavanna seems to support this.

Flemeth's quote on grief, "your grief must come later, in the dark shadows before you take vengeance, as my mother once said" is either referring to Mythal or the previous Flemeth.

Spirits can sometimes sees the future since they exist outside mortal time, though their visions may be skewed. Flemeth warned Maric about the advent of the Blight, and Loghain's eventual betrayal. Flemeth was also expecting the arrival of the Wardens but she prevaricates about it.

Yavanna was involved in the death of Queen Madrigal who died with four swords in her. Yavanna is associated with dragons, knows of the same ritual of possession Morrigan fears but knows it as a gift. Queen Madrigal bargained for the life of her son, Prince Eladio, who was meant to die with her, and when she rode into the forest to challenge Yavanna, she died.

Mosaic of a dragon is found in the main entrance of the Temple of Mythal in the Arbor Wilds. Eluvian-shaped doors are present, also common in Fen'Harel strongholds. Flemeth is able to shapeshift into a dragon and Mythal is associated with dragons.

Yavanna, a daughter of Flemeth, reverees, communicates with, and raises dragons in order to preserve them from a slow death at the hands of humanity.

Aesthetics
Scales; scales associated with Mythal's role and justice vs dragon scales. Also the idea of the world as an egg with cracks running through it: the Dragon Age, the Breach, Mythal and her dragon associations tied back to scales.

Justice: just behaviour or treatment
Vengeance: punishment inflicted or retribution enacted for an injury or wrong

The Four of Swords is the card associated with vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin; reversed it's associated with wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament. [It] reflects withdrawal, getting away and shifting the focus inwardly so that recovery and healing can take place. Note: Yavanna, Madrigal, Eladio.

The Two of Swords; uneasy truce, balance, justice, calm fter the storm, uneasy peace, caution, take care, think carefully before acting, lies and deceit, stalemate, slow change. Upright: Calm after the storm is signified with the Two of Swords but it is an uneasy peace laced with tension. A problem has reached a stalemate and while there is balance, it is also clear that there isn't a resolution yet. Relief is in sight so be aware that you won't need to worry much longer. The Two of Swords can also refer to someone who is willing to maintain peace at any price. Not liking fights or disagreements, you may hide your own feelings or pretend like everything is okay to keep the peace. Emotions need to be vented so allow yourself to acknowledge what you're feeling to relieve pressure. Reversed: Think twice or even three or four times when the Two of Swords is reversed. Your advisors, intuition, and knowledge are clouded, and you are not in the best position to make any final decisions. Any changes will occur slowly, and honestly right now that's for the best. There is an air of deceit that surrounds you, and it will be hard to find agreements that work to your advantage. While you'll feel like being impulsive to move things forward, you'll regret anything you agree to.

Justice: A woman, sometimes blindfolded, holding a sword and set of scales. A very traditional allegory of justice, objectivity, rationality, and analysis, expect references to the Judgement of Solomon, the Balance Between Good and Evil, and maybe a Secret Test of Character. Everything you do will have consequences, but the world doesn't work on a tit-for-tat princple. Sometimes people aren't as great as you thought; you must judge wisely, and don't forget that the idea of law governs your morals too.

Lore Meta
The Noladar Anthology of Dwarven Poetry:
The undead exhumed
Borne from the shallowest graves
Mined from the living
• By the Paragon Lynchear, 7:44 Storm
A possible Titan reference.

Red lyrium:
Whispers Written in Red Lyrium
We are here
We have waited
We have slept
We are sundered
We are crippled
We are polluted
We endure
We wait
We have found the dreams again
We will awaken

This looks to be about the Titans, especially with a dwarf connected to a Titan again.

Magisters thought they were unlocking the ultimate power but instead unlocked the Blight. And if the Blight comes from Titan's blood as a defense mechanism against the Evanuris mining them for their blood/lyrium and it was brought to the world, especially by Andruil.

Mythal was murdered after the Titans were sealed away. Mythal sealing the lyrium and Titans from the rest of the Evanuris was the reason she was murdered; as well as her alliance with Fen'Harel, it also isolated the Blight since there was the thing with Andruil. Mythal was the one to challenge Andruil and steal her knowledge of the Void after it drove Andruil mad.

The Veil was created to shut away the Blight as well getting revenge on the rest of the Evanuris.

Elgar'nan is another creator deity implied to have a dragon form since the ancient elves beseeched him to bring winged death, fire, and lightning upon the dwarves and Titans who destroyed their cities with earthquakes. This also provides a reason for dwarves to fear the surface because of Elgar'nan's sun (given the Stone and the hivemind that the dwarves possessed prior to this being severed), since being up there was bad and dwarves shouldn't be up there. Elgar'nan was too hot-tempered to deliver justice so the people went to Mythal - she was the only one who could calm him - but if they were unworthy, she left them to him.

Evanuris, Old Gods, Archdemons comparisons:
Andruil = Andoral, Dragon of Slaves since Andruil was known for asking for slave sacrifices
Sylaise = Toth, Dragon of Fire since Sylaise gave elves fire
Dirthamen = Dumat, Dragon of Silece since Dirthamen is the keeper of secrets
Ghilan'nain = Urthemiel, Dragon of Beauty since Ghilan'nain was considered the most of beautiful
June = Zazikel, Dragon of Chaos; an argument could be made for Elgar'nan but given he's the father deity in the pantheon and June is associated with crafts and weapons, and Zazikel's Blight lasted 90 years, an argument could be made.

This leaves Falon'din and Elgar'nan, and Razikale, Dragon of Mystery, and Lusacan, Dragon of Night. Archdemons are also corruptions of what the Old Gods were so Lusacan could be Elgar'nan, Dragon of Night, and Falon'Din, Dragon of Mystery since Falon'Din is associated with death and fortune, guiding elves to the Beyond, and is the twin soul of Dirthamen. However, twin soul does not mean twin in the traditional sense.
The things said when Razikale falls and when Dirthamen and the rest of the Evanuris were locked away are fairly similar when looking at the Razikale texts vs the lost temple of Dirthamen:
There are parallels between the calamities (the First Blight + the magisters sidereal fallout vs the loss of Arlathan + the creation of the Veil/the fallout from that)

Solas is against killing the Archdemons/Old Gods in the Deep Roads so it's unlikely they're actually the Evanuris since I doubt they could be killed so easily but something drew the magisters, and if they managed to influence the magisters as they did, it's interesting. Because Tevinter followed much the same pattern that the Evanuris did. They built a power base. And belief is a powerful thing. If the humans listened in dreams, given what we know of the Fade especially with the blood magic involved and the Somniari, then it'd be easier to plant the seed. The magisters wouldn't have known that these were powerful elves stuck in the Fade, and eventually they got a message like 'btw come say hi guys' which turned into a fiasco which I think, on some level at the very least, had to have been planned. Since the Blight is old and it was Mythal who sealed it away.

Of course this contact with the humans and all that followed didn't get them out but looking at Corypheus and how powerful he is, to the point that the Wardens spent all that time locking him up because of what he could do because he'd lived so long, and that he didn't kill himself with the orb Solas had, he bodysurfed the way Archdemons do, invested part of his power in a dragon (and dragons are strongly associated with the Evanuris too), it's worrying. The Architect is also around, able to do what he does as well, and was part of the magisters sidereal.

The most complicated puzzle in the Temple of Mythal is the puzzle related to Fen'Harel, meaning that petitioners to Mythal had to do one to do with him, and there are statues of him everywhere, including in the Crossroads and again in the Temple of Mythal where he also has a whole room; that room in particular is like a prayer room, and he may in fact be guarding the Temple.

Mythal has been nudging history for a long time, most likely as a way of getting revenge for what happened to her by moving pawns on the board until they're in the correct place.

She was Tyrdda's lover, influenced Calenhad, Maric, the Hero of Ferelden, the Champion of Kirkwall, the Inquisitor, lived not so far from the Left Hand of the Divine/possible future Divine (Leliana), met another possible future King of Ferelden (Alistair), and the future Arishok (Sten.)

Mythal, however, was an Evanuris, and that doesn't mean she wasn't as capable of being terrible just not to the same degree as the rest of them. She only intervened when Falon'din was going to attack her people but he was able to turn everything else to a bloodbath before she rallied everyone together to stop him. To stop civil war between Falon'din and Elgar'nan she had them choose two innocents from their armies to fight and that was to decide the winner. Land stolen from the dwarves - severed from their Titans - was given to the elves, and she had slaves, including Felassan. She did help Solas/Fen'Harel with the rebellion but that would've had to be behind the backs of others or she would've been killed (and she might've been willing to turn around and betray him anyway, see: still perfectly capable of being terrible and we don't know how much she knew of his plans.)

Dwarves and their beliefs about Darkspawn probably support very different views to everyone else which could still reflect some sort of shared knowledge from memories somewhere, again linking it with Titans blood and the Blight. Chronicles of a Forgotten War is way before the First Blight and it tales about the Scaled Ones, not Darkspawn, so this could perhaps reference ancient elves infected with the Blight meaning that the Broodmother queen is either the oldest Shriek Broodmother or a Titan.

The Song that Tainted people hear is aching and ethereal, pulling them towards a memory of nostalgic bliss as well as being a sound of terrible beauty and a yearning ache. Tainted people discover the song, they've never heard it before, and they love and hate it at the same time. In Asunder, Cole hears the song and says it has "an urgency that sped his heart" and is different to lyrium. In Emprise du Lion by red lyrium (Tainted Titans blood) Cole will say "its song is very angry". So if the Blight comes from Titans, then the Wardens, Ghouls, Darkspawn, and Tainted people are all hearing the Titans song that was actually meant for the dwarves aka their long lost children, explaining the nostalgia, the longing. The desire for long-lost perfection would also make sense given the bond dwarves and Titans had before it was severed (and in The Descent DLC when reaching the Bastion of the Pure and the Wellspring). This was all also before the Titans were mined for lyrium.

Cole also asks this to Varric: Do you write to reach across? To hear the song that was sundered? Again suggesting this is what the song refers to, and given the connection with dreaming, with creativity it's interesting that Cole brings it up since dwarves are the most advanced creative people in Thedas.

Blighted people hear a different song to the original pure song, and Cole says the Calling is different to the song of lyrium. When an Archdemon is present during a Blight, people hear it, and that song comes from the corrupted dragon, that or yearning/long-lost perfection might also reference an unhealthy/tainted thing wishing to return to the days when it wasn't that way.

The Veil isn't a physical thing, it's a magical vibration that repels the Fade with the source of the vibration being unknown, and there aren't any accounts of the Veil not existing in human history with humans only able to reach Thedas after it was created, around -3100 Ancient. The Veil might offer protection to humans due to the effect a thin Veil has on them since it makes them feel slow and heavy, and have headaches from too many colours whereas elves feel strong and quick. Dwarves however could live in a world without the Veil because of their bond with the Titans.

Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads
The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. probably the titans creating the blight to defend themselves against lyrium mining

A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. the elves seal the deep roads to keep the blight in there, pretty much locking the titans and dwarves away with the plague the titans created as a line of self-defense

A voice whispers:
“What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all.”

This had a huge impact on dwarven society, and the ancient elves, particularly the Evanuris, royally screwed them over so if/when knowledge of that got out it'd have the potential to be very bad for the elves. Elgar'nan's sun is why they're afraid of the surface, the Caste system that causes people to be left in poverty/in the Deep Roads to die likely came about because of what happened to them, the link they had with their symbiotic protectors was severed along with the Fade/magic/dreams, and they had poverty, Darkspawn raids, the Blight...

The Titans remember this too. Yes, one was reunited with a dwarf but that's probably not going to do it in terms of appeasement. That doesn't mean that one isn't still angry, and it was the Breach that woke the Titan so there are possibly other Titans that woke up because the Veil was damaged and it finally allowed them to wake after a long slumber.

Tyrdda Bright-Axe of the Alamarri had a lover called 'laughing lady of the sky' and 'leaf-eared lover' with Tyrdda herself being called 'spirit's bride' meaning that all this would've happened when Mythal was a fragment pre-Flemeth. Tyrdda was a dreamer and Mythal spoke to her, gave advice, nudged history. The whole poem about Tyrdda is great because it's about Tyrdda's enemy who, convinced by dark voices in his dreams, wants to cross the Waking Sea to sack a golden city. Guess what's across the golden city? Arlathan. Tyrdda refused to marry him, refused to sack the golden city with him, and they fought. Tyrdda had other adventures including fighting a dragon armed only with the staff given to her by her lover before being advised to marry a dwarf as recommended by the lady. Her tribe was literally dying out but she did, and they had a daughter. Morrighan'nan. Not the first time that baby acquisition or that name have sounded familiar.

Dagna + working on rifts:
A thing deep inside Dagna remembered and sensed what being connected to a Titan was like, and the Titan's blood called out to her. The lyrium. She said that the lyrium and the Fade are linked so that's why the Evanuris were into it in a big way since it was a source of magic and a way to enhance magical power and to be stronger.

Dwarves aren't Tranquil in the way that a human or elven mage would be Tranquil in that they can't dream or use magic but they still have emotions. Since dwarves are disconnected from the Titans and the Fade, they're able to work on lyrium safely; they can touch it, transform it, make runes, enchantments, but they aren't part of it anymore. The Tranquil can't enter the Fade anymore or access their emotions - so the Fade and emotions are linked - whereas the dwarves aren't what they were. But lyrium was something that was once only related to dwarves. It's the blood of their creators, the things that gave them life since Valta says that the Titans predate the Stone, so the Stone is probably a substitute form of worship for the Titans they lost.

The Tranquility elves and humans go through is different to that of dwarves since they're cut off from the Fade directly with no mediator, and since they aren't bound to anyone, it's just them being affected by it. Meanwhile since the dwarves and Titans had a symbiotic relationship it meant that the dwarves allowed the Titans to be connected to the Fade and at the same time the Titans allowed the dwarves to use magic. When the Veil was created, it tore through that so the true Tranquil in that situation are the Titans. And the dwarves 'who make it happen' in Dagna's words couldn't reach the Titans and forgot about them so the symbiotic relationship couldn't reform. Instead they kept living somewhat normal lives but very differently to the way they once did. The Frostbacks come into all of this since the Frostbacks are full of lyrium aka Titans blood, and Oghren comments on that during Origins, as well as there being evidence of it during the beginning of Inquisition. Skyhold is built there and the Inquisitor is warned about not building too much in places including the whole floor collapse where the writer doesn't want to know what caused the damage because it's usually only caused by dams.

Lyrium allows Templars to use a form of magic that nullifies that one used by mages by reinforcing the reality around them and stopping the Fade from reaching them so the mages can't cast spells and are harmless. Cole says that the bodies of the Templars become incomplete and try to connect to something older and bigger than they are. They reach for that "other thing" and magic has no room to come in. Non-mages through training can use lyrium to possess special abilities but over time in large quanties it causes addicition and madness; even dwarves can die if they directly ingest it. Mages use lyrium to enhance the abilities they already possess and to walk through the Fade with perfect focus the way Somniari can without it. Pre-Veil, all elves were mages, there were't distinctions.

Dragons are able to slow the effect of the Blight by forming cysts in their bodies. The Taint is trapped within them for a short period of time and this allows the dragon to fight it longer than other creatures. In Elvhenan, Tevinter, and to the dwarves, dragons all appear. Their shape is "the shape of the divine".

The Old Gods/Archdemons/dragons might also be a security measure - explaining why Solas doesn't want them dead - left by Mythal in the Deep Roads with the dwarves to keep the Darkspawn at bay, linking nicely with the Evanurisu so the Blight is connected, and both Mythal and Elgar'nan had dragon forms, the ability of powerful tainted beings to invest their power in another thing and to bodysurf, as well as the dragons and their Blight cysts.

Spirits:
Spirits are deeply interested in the waking world most likely because it's where they belong and yearn to return to but their nature/reasons why are still up in the air. If the Fade is a stage, then spirits and demons prepare in different ways for meeting the people they encounter: a very scared person expecting only to find demons is going to find them e.g. if they expect to find a rage demon they will find and dream of rage and anger-related issues if they're not a mage strolling around in there.

Spirits and demons are also extremely interested in emotions, they portray them and become that emotion they so admire, love, are attached to, attracted to, corrupted into etc. If there were different before the Veil isn't exactly known. The texts and memories of Elvhenan don't mention emotions tied to spirits, don't give them connotations, they're spirits/brethren of air so they might have been much more complicated before but elven language is said to be poetic so there's room for interpretation there. Added to that though is how adamant Solas is about calling them people and considering them as such.

Spirits could also be ancient elves who abandoned their physical bodies - given what was learnt in Trespasser - so this could mean that all the spirits and demons are the ancient elves who were stuck and/or trapped there after the creation of the Veil, who lost themselves and the memories of the lives they once had. Again, Cole has interesting things to say about the Fade if he's made more spirit-like and the Inquisitor asks him what it feels like: "It is here but held, constrained by a construct, Veiled. Feelings, memories, minds, mortality: all shape it, a glass to hold water, we flow to the deep. Without you, we have nothing, not even us. That’s why we want so much".

Spirits desire to come into the waking world but it's conditional on being summoned or by calmly passing through the Veil of their own volition. They're intrigued by what they see, by the emotion they witness to the degree that they'll repeatedly act out those things which is perhaps to feel closer to the world e.g. corpses rising and attacking to feel they belong to it again or because it's instinctive to them because some part of their nature tells them to do that, because it's something that should belong to them too.