How best to explain this...it's hard, because Cole himself doesn't know how best to explain this. He feels comfortable as a spirit, he knows that it fits, like a well-worn pair of shoes, but he cannot ignore the fact that most spirits aren't as solid as he is, most spirits aren't as defined, most don't have a name. He also can't ignore the fact that he could just as easily stop being a spirit and become a demon, slipping back into old ways.

"What I am certain of, I am certain of," Cole simply says, as an explanation. "Most parts are spirit, but a few aren't. A step too swift, taken out of time changes the dance but it's still a dance."

Solas says he's a spirit. And Solas knows a lot. But Varric said that he could have been human once, and that occasionally plays in the back of Cole's mind, a what-if among maybes.