Demon — dragonage

A demon is an oft-malicious spirit from the Fade that embodies a sin or negative emotion and that feeds on the darker parts of the mortal psyche like rage, hunger, and desire. According to Solas, a spirit becomes a demon when denied its original purpose. This denial occurs when a spirit is forced to do something that greatly conflicts with its original nature, or it may occur as a spirit explores mortal minds and dreams and encounters negative thoughts and memories. A demon's strength and intelligence is dependent on the emotions or idea from which it feeds; the more complex the concept, the more powerful the demon.

Nature of demons

Demons are categorized into a hierarchy by human observers since at least the Towers Age that is called Brahm's Scale after its inventor.^[1] Rage is the simplest emotion to feed from so rage demons are often much lower on the power scale. Sloth demons are above rage demons, and are known as masters of disguise. Desire demons are higher still, and have the power to manipulate people without their ever knowing. Most powerful of all are pride demons. They are fearsome creatures, known for their intelligence. However, demons do not abide by this hierarchy. A rage demon can focus on retribution, which is more powerful and complex motivation than simple anger, while a desire demon focused on lust will be less powerful than one who focuses on desire for something more complex.^[2] There are also "terror" demons which rely on more base fears while "despair" demons work to extinguish feelings of Hope. Rarer demons include "envy" and "fear".

Demons do not have genders. Within the Fade, they are able to shapeshift and take a form of their choosing. As creatures of an alternate and malleable reality, a demon's natural mindset can appear insane to a mortal.

Ultimately, a demon is simply a spirit whose purpose has been perverted. Pulling a spirit unwillingly into the mortal world, particularly to achieve a goal out of keeping with its nature, will change a spirit into a demon. A spirit passing willingly through the Veil will not be changed.^[3] Furthermore, an individual anticipating seeing a demon will do so, even if the entity is in fact a spirit.^[4] A spirit possessing someone may also be twisted by its host, turning them into a demon. Such is the case with Justice becoming Vengeance.

Demonic possession

As with most spirits, demons crave to join the living. Some spirits cross the Veil because they desire to experience life, either to indulge in an aspect of psyche or to fulfill a purpose they embody. Usually spirits or demons can only cross over the Fade by attaching themselves to something in the mortal world. Demons in particular, cannot make sense of the physical world. They are unable to tell the living from the dead or the very static nature of the physical universe. As such, it becomes very confusing for such creatures who are normally accustomed to a physicality defined entirely by emotion and memory. Thus, demons unable to reconcile with their new reality would look monstrous and wrong in the physical world.^[5]

If spirits are made manifest against their will they become violent and mad by the shock and turn into demons. Most demons seek to immediately seize upon anything they perceive as life, jealously attempting to possess it^[6] since it is the most expedient way to keep their sanity intact in the mortal world. The only known way to exorcise a demon without killing its host is to enter the Fade and confront it directly - but this still entails substantial risks. If the host is killed, the demon returns to the Fade unscathed.

Mages, due to their enhanced influence across the Veil, are in the most danger of being possessed. It's unknown why demons prize mages as their ideal host. Some speculate it's out of convenience since their occult awareness facilitates demonic encounters; or it could be simply by virtue of their magical powers. Regardless of the reason, a demon always attempts to possess a mage when it encounters one—by force or by making some kind of deal depending on the strength of the mage. Abominations are the horrifying result of a demon possessing a mage.^[7] Dwarves cannot be possessed since they have no connection to the Fade.^[8]

However, demons do not only possess the living and often cannot distinguish between a living host and one that is deceased—and will readily take control of either. This is one of the main reasons for the Chantry's custom of burning the dead as to prevent the unintended creation of an undead entity. For weaker demons, corpses make tempting targets, as the demon cannot sense any resistance. When a sloth demon takes possession of a dead body a shambling corpse is the result. Devouring corpses are held by hunger demons and feed upon the living.

When a pride demon takes control of the corpse of a mage, an arcane horror is born, possessing all the spellcasting abilities of a living mage, as well as possessing the ability to heal and even command other animated corpses. Another powerful possessed corpse is a revenant, these are usually possessed by a demon of pride or of desire.

The longer dead also fall prey to possession. A fanged skeleton is a skeleton possessed by a hunger demon. Driven by hunger, these skeletons attempt to consume whatever life they can find and often possess the ability to drain life energy and mana from their victims. Shambling skeletons are possessed by a sloth demon, they are able to use entropic powers against their opponents.

Demons may occasionally possess non-mortal forms such as trees, animals,^[9] objects^[10] and even ash to escape the Fade. Trees for example, may be corrupted into sylvans; in doing so the demon in turn avoids any side effects associated with the demonic possession that occurs from entering mortal and sentient beings.^[11]

Despite the numerous examples of demonic possession, shades prove that demons do not need to possess anything in order to cross over. They are essentially demons in their "true form." In time, such a demon will learn to drain energy from the psyche of those it encounters, just as they did in the Fade. Once it has drained enough, it has the power to manifest. Such creatures do not seek to possess a host and instead exist as a shadow, feeding off the minds of those it encounters.

Notable demons

Pride

Audacity

The Baroness

Charged Pride^[12]

Consuming Obsession

Fade beast

Hybris

Mouse

Uldred

Wryme

Desire

Allure

Caress

Colette^[13]

Hanker

Imshael

Kitty

Vereveel

Xebenkeck

Yevena

Sloth

The Sloth Demon

Torpor

Hunger

The Fade Maiden^[14]

Envy

The Envy demon^[15]^[16]^[17]

Rage

Lord Woolsley

Rhagos

Shah Wyrd

Shade

Gazarath

The Dark Theurge

Queen of the Blackmarsh

Fear

Aspect of the Nightmare

Nightmare

Librarians

Despair

The Highest One

Treasure

Unique entities

Beacon^[18]

Gaxkang the Unbound

Gifre^[18]

The Grand Oak

Gurd Harofsen

Kel-Sarag^[19]

Malvernis

Mythallen

Regret^[20]

Spite

Slavren

Trickster Whim

Uthkiel the Crusher

Vengeance

The following information is only mentioned in Dragon Age Tabletop. Certain portions of this media may no longer reflect currently established lore.

Mythallen

Codex entries

Abomination

Arcane Horror

Ash Wraith

Baroness of the Blackmarsh

Trivia

Before the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, David Gaider discussed other types of demons, such as despair, fear, envy and remorse,^[2] and mentioned that at least one new major type of demon would appear in Dragon Age: Inquisition.^[21] Despair, fear and envy were shown in the game, but remorse was only introduced in Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights.
Grim Anatomy is a mysterious text written by an unknown author using an invented script. The author appears to have been deeply interested in physiology of animals, likely in connection to demonic possession. It seems that the author believed demons enter their host through eyes and hide somewhere inside the skull.^[22]