Approval

Cole Approval Scenes

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Side Quests

Helping

Occurs while completing quests around the Hinterlands

Cole: They were hurting, and we helped. Their lives are better because of us.

Cole: I like it when we help people. Cole: I’m glad we helped them. Cole: They’re happier now. Cole: I’m glad we did that. Cole: It was good to do that.

Low Approval

I Don’t Like What You’re Doing

In the alcove above the tavern Cole: I don’t like what you’re doing. If we don’t help people, I will find another place.

The PC walks into Skyhold to be greeted by Cole.

Cole: You don’t care about people.

Dialogue options:

General: You don’t understand. [1]
General: I don’t understand. [2]
General: Get out of my way. [3]

1 - General: You don’t understand. PC: Cole, the Inquisition has done some things that might look– Cole: No. [4]

2 - General: I don’t understand. PC: What’s that supposed to mean? Cole: What I said. [4]

3 - General: Get out of my way. PC: I don’t have time for this. Cole: I won’t take long. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Cole: You don’t care about people. And I don’t have to stay here.

Dialogue options:

General: Go, with my blessing. [5]
General: Please stay.[6]
General: I’ll put you down. [7]

5 - General: Go, with my blessing. PC: I’m sorry, Cole. I’ll miss you. Cole: No, you won’t. [8]

6 - General: Please stay. PC: Cole, I don’t want you to leave. Cole: You won’t miss me. [8]

7 - General: I’ll put you down. PC: I knew you’d get out of control. [8]

8 - Scene continues.

Cole made more human Cole: I can’t make you forget anymore… but you’ll never see me again. Cole vanishes, and the PC continues into Skyhold. Scene ends.

Personal quest not completed, or Cole made more human. Cole: Forget. The PC enters Skyhold and is greeted by Cullen. Cullen: Is everything all right? PC: Fine. I was just… Fine. Thank you. Scene ends.

Warm Approval

Cutscene: Look For Cole

The PC looks for Cole above the Tavern, but he isn’t there. They find him sitting outside, overlooking the medical tents.

PC: What are you doing?

Cole: Listening.

A woman walks past.

Cole: Eyes rough, jangling armor hurts my ears, back aching, fingers too clumsy for knots.

She tends to an injured soldier.

Cole: Wind cool like Aunt Eloise’s pond. Lips scalded as I sip, warmth blossoms, first kiss in the barn, what was his name?

She speaks to a nearby Chantry sister.

Cole: Tin jangle as the blood spills. Pierre’s wrapped body on the wagon to the chantry. Five more minutes. My fault.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Do you hear everything? [2]
General: Can you help her? [3] +Cole slightly approves
General: What was that? [4]
General: Don’t harm her. [5] +Cole slightly approves

2 - Investigate: Do you hear everything? PC: Can you listen to anyone’s mind like you did hers? Cole: No. They have to need me. Pain, fear, sadness, guilt, anger, hurt. Things I can fix. [back to 1]

3 - General: Can you help her? PC: Can you do something for her? Cole: Yes. [6]

4 - General: What was that? PC: could almost see what had happened to her. Cole: Yes. PC: Is that what it’s like for you? Cole: Yes. [6]

5 - General: Don’t harm her. PC: I don’t want to see her hurt. Cole: She already is. [6]

6 - Scene continues.

Cole appears below, near the woman.

Cole: It’s okay. Nothing you did mattered.

Healer: What? Who are you?

Cole: They lie there, and sometimes they die, just like Pierre. You can’t save them.

Healer: I don’t… I don’t know who you are…

Cole: Wait, that didn’t work. Let me try again. You’ll forget me in a minute.

The PC joins them.

7 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Wait, what? [8]
General: [Wait and watch.] [9]
General: No, don’t do that. [10]

8 - Investigate: Wait, what? PC: What are you going to do? Cole: Make her forget me. Then do it again, the right way. [back to 7]

9 - General: [Wait and watch.] Cole: You can’t save all of them. Healer: What? Cole: Like Pierre getting sick after you snuck out to Aunt Eloise’s pond. You want it to be your fault, so there’s a reason and it’s not so frightening. But there’s no reason. Pierre just got sick. The soldier was never going to live. It wasn’t your fault.

There’s a moment with a bit of magic.

Cole: Better.

She walks away.

Dialogue options:

General: Nice work. [11] +Cole slightly approves
General: They don’t remember you? [12]

11 - General: Nice work. PC: She doesn’t blame herself anymore? Cole: Not as much. It was bouncing around inside her, closing up into a ball of wrong. Now it’s open. She’ll get it out. PC: Well done. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 12 - General: They don’t remember you? PC: So you walk into their lives, make them feel better, and they just forget you? Cole: Yes. It’s better to help and then be gone. If I stay, it can be frightening. PC: For you or for them? Cole: Yes. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 13 - Scene continues. ㅤㅤ ㅤ Cole: Thank you for letting me help her. It’s not how a person would do it… But it helped. That’s what matters. Scene ends.

10 - General: No, don’t do that. PC: Cole, stop. Healer: Inquisitor? Your Worship, what are you doing here? Is this… man… with you? PC: Yes. Sorry to trouble you. Cole: How do I do it right, if I’ve done it wrong and I can’t make her forget?

Dialogue options:

General: Just talk to her, Cole. [14]
General: Apologize, Cole. [15]
General: It’s not your fault, healer. [16]

14 - General: Just talk to her, Cole. PC: Don’t root around inside her head. Treat her like a normal person. Healer: Your Worship, is there… do you need something of me? Cole: You were sad. Healer: Of course I was sad. A man died because I couldn’t save him. Cole: It wasn’t your fault. Cole: You could work until you fell over, and you still wouldn’t save everyone. Healer: Thank you for saying that. Excuse me, Your Worship. [17]

15 - General: Apologize, Cole. PC: You hurt her feelings, Cole. Just tell her you’re sorry. Cole: I’m sorry. You were sad. I wanted to help. Healer: You can’t help… not unless you can bring that soldier back from the dead. Cole: It wasn’t your fault. Cole: You could work until you fell over, and you still wouldn’t save everyone. Healer: Thank you for saying that. Excuse me, Your Worship. [17]

16 - General: It’s not your fault, healer. PC: I hear you’ve had some bad news. Healer: I’m sorry, Your Worship. It was my fault. I was tired, and I thought I could take a few minutes to rest… PC: You can’t save everyone. This wasn’t your fault. Healer: Yes, Your Worship. Thank you. [17]

17 - Scene continues.

She walks away.

Cole: She’s not better.

Dialogue options:

General: This isn’t about her. [18]
General: She will be. [19] +Cole slightly approves

18 - General: This isn’t about her. PC: What’s important is that you tried, and that you didn’t disappear when it didn’t work. Cole: I wanted to. She was hurting. PC: You did everything you could to help… just like she did. It wasn’t your fault. [20]

19 - General: She will be. PC: She needs time to work through it. Cole: If I’d done it right, it would have worked faster. PC: Then you have time to work through it, too. [20]

20 - Scene continues.

Cole: I don’t understand. But thank you for trying to help. Scene ends.

Conversation: Tell Me How You Think

PC: Can you explain how your mind works?

Cole: Yes.

1 - Dialogue options:

General: Explain the helping process. [2]
General: You think about our friends. [3]
General: What do you see in me? [4]
General: It seems a sad way to be. [4]
General: Goodbye. [5]

1 - General: Explain the helping process. PC: Walk me through the way you help someone. Cole: I start by listening. I hear hurt, feel it fretting. Some you can solve by giving something. Food, a blanket, sleep. Some are intangible, terrible tangles that catch on a crack. Fixed, festering, and the person makes a pearl of pain. I shake it loose. No pearl, no pain. They can hope, they can heal. [back to 1]

2 - General: You think about our friends. PC: Sometimes you say things that relate to other members of the Inquisition. Cole: They remember me. Their eyes stick, some more. They want me to be.

Cole made more human Cole: Varric lied. His bow broke. It was a trick trigger, a trap, but it helped like the truth. Solas isn’t afraid of me. He sees spirits and understands. But he’s sad underneath. [back to 1]

Cole made more spirit Cole: Varric, a stone reaching for brightness, spinning stories of color he can’t see. Calling me “kid,” calming. Solas, bright and sad, reminding me how to fly free, forgive, forgiven, forget. [back to 1]

Cole’s personal quest not completed Cole: Varric is quiet inside. He pulls me more to here. Makes me a person. Calls me “kid.” A friend. Solas, bright and sad, observes and accepts. Spirit self, seeing the soul, Solas, but somehow sorrows. [back to 1]

3 - General: What do you see in me? PC: What do you sense when you focus on me? Cole: You’re too bright. Like counting birds against the sun. The mark makes you more. But past it…

Cole (mage PC): You reach across, mindful, meaning. You pull it through to this side, make it real here. Cole (Qunari PC): Old blood, deeper, passion pounding pulsing, unchecked. Raw rage, but only an option. Cole (dwarf PC): The stone, still there, silent and reaching up for the blood that walks. No dreams with the cord cut. You sell it. Cole (Dalish PC): Pulled, blood that is not blood, a tiny trace of time. Lips struggling to shape language your parents lived. Cole (human PC): War and weariness, blood and battle. Life learning to lead, clash, kill.

Cole: And past that, the weight of all on you. All the hopes you carry, fears you fight. You are theirs. It must be very hard. I hope I help. [back to 1]

4 - General: It seems a sad way to be. PC: It must be sad, feeling everyone’s pain all the time. Cole: Why? PC: Isn’t it? Cole: No. I help. I find wounds and heal them. I salve, soothe, save. I see pain and make it better. How could I not be happy? [back to 1]

5 - General: Goodbye. PC: I’ll talk to you later.

High Approval

Only available after Cole is made more human during personal quest.

PC: How would you like to get out of here, maybe do something fun?

Cole: I don’t know. I’ve never tried.

PC: Come on.

The PC walks up to a restaurant in Val Royeaux

Host: Inquisitor! You honor us with your presence. May I bring a sampling of fine cheeses for you and your guest?

Cole: I don’t eat.

Host: Well, then, just a bottle of a fine Ghislain white to start.

The host walks them to a table.

Host: Please enjoy your meal this evening, Your Worship.

Cole: He saw me. They all see me.

Dialogue options:

General: I’m proud of you. [1] +Cole slightly approves
General: It’s a good step. [2]
General: That should be normal. [3]

1 - General: I’m proud of you. PC: I’m glad you’ve allowed them to. Cole: I don’t know if I did. [4]

2 - General: It’s a good step. PC: Next you’ll be eating and drinking and… everything else. Cole: What else is there? PC: Have you used the privy yet? That should be enlightening. [4]

3 - General: That should be normal. PC: If you only interact with people in pain, it will distort your view of the world. Cole: But that was me before I was me. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Cole: I find people when their pain leaves them open. I ease the pain. I leave. They forget. That was enough for me. Now they remember, and I’m not sure… ah. (Chuckles.)

Inquisitor: Cole?

Cole (PC asked about Cole’s past): I told you about Rhys, the mage who could see me. My friend. Cole(PC did not asked about Cole’s past): There was a mage named Rhys at the Spire. He was one of the few who could see me. He was my friend.

Cole: My only friend, for a long time. Evangeline showed me that templars could be kind, but even she… (Sighs.)

Dialogue options:

General: Is this painful? [5] +Cole slightly approves
General: Are you going to get dark? [6] +Cole slightly approves
General: I don’t understand. [7]

5 - General: Is this painful? PC: Cole, if this is troubling, we don’t have to talk about it. Cole: Gentle. You watch me walk into darkness over and over, and you always worry. Thank you. But this isn’t about them. It’s about… [8]

6 - General: Are you going to get dark? PC: If this is going to be another trip through the wringer, please wait until I’ve finished my wine. Because this… Cole: “This is an excellent Ghislain, and I do not want it ruined.” Quick words hide a gentle heart. You wouldn’t have brought me here if you didn’t care. [8]

7 - General: I don’t understand. PC: Where are you going with this? Cole: I’ll get there. It’s hard. It hurt. [8]

8 - Scene continues.

Cole: When I found out I wasn’t human, when I grew, I lost Rhys. I lost my only friend. That’s why I was scared about letting all these people see me. That’s why I laughed.

Dialogue options:

General: You made yourself laugh? [9]
General: You’re hiding the fear? [10]
General: You’ve lost me. [11]

9 - General: You made yourself laugh? PC: You’re laughing at yourself? Cole: Yes. [12]

10 - General: You’re hiding the fear? PC: You’re covering the fear with laughter? Cole: No. [12]

11 - General: You’ve lost me. PC: I still don’t get it. [12]

12 - Scene continues.

Cole: This world taught me that changing means losing your friends. But now I know that doesn’t have to be true. I have enough self to know that what I felt was foolish. Isn’t it wonderful?

Yes, it is. PC: It’s another good step, Cole. +Cole slightly approves ㅤㅤ ㅤ
It’s a little odd, actually. PC: Most people aren’t quite so happy to learn that they’re wrong about something. ㅤㅤ ㅤ
If you say so. PC: Whatever you say.

Cole: I might like being human. What do you think I’ll learn next?

Scene ends.