Author Topic: Souls and Ghosts.  (Read 28210 times)

Offline toodeep

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #75 on: January 14, 2020, 10:11:39 PM »
“Chicago-in-between” was a very serious place, and I think a place only accessible to those with a soul.

1.   Harry went there and we know he still had his soul, and while there he made the deal that put his soul at risk.

2.   We know from Uriel that Carmichael and Jack are both souls because he says that those that are there are there to help them feel more comfortable about moving along to their final judgement.

3.   Angels are openly active there as door guards, as are, apparently, very bad things.  This differs from our reality significantly.

4.   Harry saw no wraiths or other indications of the more normal “ghostly” stuff that then became normal stuff in in the ghostly world showed for the rest of the book.

What I infer from this:
A.   Ghosts with souls come back in a not so rare situation.  Remember Sir Stuart said, “Sometimes new shades show up claiming they’ve had a run-in with him and that he brought them back from the hereafter.”  This would indicate that any returning having seen Jack really were Shades (ghost+soul) and not just ghosts, since anyone going to the in-between must have a soul.

B.   To go there and do the job Uriel offered Sir Stuart would require a soul.  Without a soul a ghost is just a worn photocopy of a person and lacks the free will that would be needed to have agency in that place.

Other thoughts:

I.   Shade is not just used to describe Stuart, Harry, and Capriocorpus in the book.  Sir Stuart says that many postal workers leave shades behind.  You can argue that Sir Stuart lacks the knowledge/ability to differentiate between a ghost and a shade, but if that is the case then very few people have that ability and that renders the number of uses of the word that count to a too small statistical sample to use for a definitive purpose.  (i.e. it could just be that those three people tend to use the term shade rather than ghost)

II.   I would be most inclined to believe that Sir Stuart is a shade for two reasons.  First, he is possibly the progenitor of a line of ectomancers.  While nothing in his demeanor indicates he ever had any inclination toward those abilities, it is possible he had some natural talent that might have encouraged the creation of a shade compared to just a normal ghost.  Secondly, he had a massive life span for a ghost.  Literally hundreds of years as a fully capable active cogent ghost.  This is almost certainly because of his interaction with living ectomancers which I’m sure helped provide him with additional “juice” so that is not a very strong point, but it is still a point.

III.   That said, it seems like it offers an “out” to those that wish to avoid death and ultimate justice because if one just knows enough one can keep the soul from moving on, but I guess that has always been an option for people like Kemmler… until someone actually does stop them.

Offline Bad Alias

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #76 on: January 15, 2020, 03:54:46 AM »
In one of the latest DragonCon panels on Ghosts, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTq8RMv19Ek&feature=youtu.be, Jim discussed Ghosts, and obviously, Souls. around 24:50
Here. This is the first post in this thread. There isn't any digging required.

  All dogs go to Heaven.... ::)
A strong counterpoint. :)

Cats are agents of the Devil, so they all go to hell. (The first part was actually a belief during the plague).

"I think only souls can go to Chicago-in-between. Uriel hires Sir Stuart. Sir Stuart must be a soul." I don't find that logic chain convincing.

Who says Mort isn't the first ectomancer in his family?

Offline Arjan

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #77 on: January 15, 2020, 10:38:09 AM »
Who says Mort isn't the first ectomancer in his family?
Because magical talent is often inherited so morty's talent makes it more likely that his ancestors had the same talent.

Sir Stuarts Shade having such a strong and lasting presense supports that idea as well. It points to a strong spirit in life which points to spiritual power which is what an ectomancer needs to fuel his magic.

Morty being an ectomancer just makes it more likely that Sir Stuart had the talent to stay behind as a shade just like Morty can probably do so if he wants to.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2020, 10:43:01 AM by Arjan »
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Offline Arjan

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #78 on: January 15, 2020, 11:23:49 AM »
"I think only souls can go to Chicago-in-between. Uriel hires Sir Stuart. Sir Stuart must be a soul." I don't find that logic chain convincing.
Knowing Uriel? Everytime he turns up souls are the only thing he cares about. The only thing he thinks are really important. It is all about souls with Uriel. Everything he does is about souls.

Empoying Sir Stuart is about souls as well
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Offline Arjan

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #79 on: January 15, 2020, 11:29:02 AM »
A strong counterpoint. :)

Cats are agents of the Devil, so they all go to hell. (The first part was actually a belief during the plague).
That was actually a heresy and the plague was the white gods punishment for harming those beings created in his image. There are far more humans than cats in hell.
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Offline Mira

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #80 on: January 15, 2020, 01:57:50 PM »
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Cats are agents of the Devil, so they all go to hell. (The first part was actually a belief during the plague).


Yup, and a third or more of the human population of Europe was wiped out... :o

Offline toodeep

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #81 on: January 15, 2020, 09:05:07 PM »
"I think only souls can go to Chicago-in-between. Uriel hires Sir Stuart. Sir Stuart must be a soul." I don't find that logic chain convincing.

Neither would I if I incorrectly distilled 4 known factual data points summarizing lines of evidence to support my interpretation down to "I think."  I'll note you didn't address any of the actual data points as being erroneous or the logic that leads from them to my conclusion.  Considering you obviously thus have a desire to not support the conclusion despite the weight of the evidence, I consider your lack of actual refutation as strong support. :) 

Who says Mort isn't the first ectomancer in his family?

No one.  But it does run in family lines, and Sir Stuart is an ancestor and he has lasted a long time, which might be facilitated by there being other ectomancers in the line before Mort (i.e. if there wasn't, Sir Stuart would have had a very long quiet soul-destroying existence watching over a bunch of descendants who he couldn't actually help/interact with before getting to Morty).  Therefore, there is a greater than average (though admittedly 1% would be greater than average) chance that the line might have a predilection for ectomancy, and that might have included Sir Stuart himself.

Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #82 on: January 16, 2020, 01:40:33 AM »
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Google? Really? That will probably tell you that spirit and soul are the same. Jim uses the terminology in his own way, he is creating the world and Ghost Story is where he really thinks it through. How he uses the terms in this book is leading not how someone on the internet defines it.

You didn't read my post, did you? Because I specifically said "Unless you can provide evidence that Jim has a different definition," and yet, rather than even attempting to do so, your argument is "standard definitions should always be assumed not to apply, because Jim defines a small subsection of words differently." Tell me, when Harry's duster is described as black leather, should I assume it's actually made of blue silk and that Jim is just defining the words "black" and "leather" differently?

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That is a refutation on the idea that there are no exceptions

Please stop insulting me. The fact that you feel the need to provide evidence for this (and yet not, apparently, for your theories?) shows that not only are you not reading my posts, you don't  even think I've read Ghost Story.

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He did say it was possible but that the ghosts who claimed so where usually wrong even if they believed it themselves. Another reason why Sir Stuart wouldn't mention it and maybe even did not believe it himself.

Could you (or someone) please provide a quote? Because you remember one thing while I remember another. I'd provide one myself, but I don't have access to my copy of the book right now.

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Later on he did transfer Butters shade back to his body so he certainly knows about the possibility.

The Butters thing was his soul being forcibly removed from his still-alive body, not his soul coming back with his ghost after he had died.

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No but even if I did I would take Ghost story as leading. It is the book that really fleshed out his ideas.

And apparently now you don't understand your own argument. The claim you made was "the word 'shade' has never been used to apply to any being except ghosts that also had souls and Sir Stuart's ghost. Therefore, the word 'shade' can be defined as meaning ghost + soul. Therefore Sir Stuart's ghost must also have his soul." I responded in part by saying "You say the word 'shade' has never been used except in the way you've stated. But you only said that you've looked through Ghost Story. There are other books that have ghosts in them. If the word 'shade' is used differently in one of them, then your claim of 'never' is invalidated, invalidating your entire chain of logic around the word."

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People who knew.

Too vague.

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The word is not thrown around as a synonym just to make sentences run more smoothly.

You claim this, but you have no evidence. I hate to break it to you, but your unsupported opinion is not, in itself, irrefutable evidence, regardless of what you seem to think.

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Not in my opinion, I did not get that feeling I sometimes have when someone makes an argument that really refutes what I am saying.

So now you're saying that it doesn't matter what I say or how right I am, if you don't agree with me then I'm automatically wrong? Do you even understand how facts work? Hint: they don't change based on your feelings about them.

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“Chicago-in-between” was a very serious place, and I think a place only accessible to those with a soul.

1.   Harry went there and we know he still had his soul, and while there he made the deal that put his soul at risk.

2.   We know from Uriel that Carmichael and Jack are both souls because he says that those that are there are there to help them feel more comfortable about moving along to their final judgement.

3.   Angels are openly active there as door guards, as are, apparently, very bad things.  This differs from our reality significantly.

4.   Harry saw no wraiths or other indications of the more normal “ghostly” stuff that then became normal stuff in in the ghostly world showed for the rest of the book.

What I infer from this:
A.   Ghosts with souls come back in a not so rare situation.  Remember Sir Stuart said, “Sometimes new shades show up claiming they’ve had a run-in with him and that he brought them back from the hereafter.”  This would indicate that any returning having seen Jack really were Shades (ghost+soul) and not just ghosts, since anyone going to the in-between must have a soul.

B.   To go there and do the job Uriel offered Sir Stuart would require a soul.  Without a soul a ghost is just a worn photocopy of a person and lacks the free will that would be needed to have agency in that place.

This is an interesting point. You may be right.

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I.   Shade is not just used to describe Stuart, Harry, and Capriocorpus in the book.  Sir Stuart says that many postal workers leave shades behind.  You can argue that Sir Stuart lacks the knowledge/ability to differentiate between a ghost and a shade, but if that is the case then very few people have that ability and that renders the number of uses of the word that count to a too small statistical sample to use for a definitive purpose.  (i.e. it could just be that those three people tend to use the term shade rather than ghost)

Thanks! So it seems like 'shade' is just a synonym for 'ghost,' then.

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II.   I would be most inclined to believe that Sir Stuart is a shade for two reasons.  First, he is possibly the progenitor of a line of ectomancers.  While nothing in his demeanor indicates he ever had any inclination toward those abilities, it is possible he had some natural talent that might have encouraged the creation of a shade compared to just a normal ghost.  Secondly, he had a massive life span for a ghost.  Literally hundreds of years as a fully capable active cogent ghost.  This is almost certainly because of his interaction with living ectomancers which I’m sure helped provide him with additional “juice” so that is not a very strong point, but it is still a point.

III.   That said, it seems like it offers an “out” to those that wish to avoid death and ultimate justice because if one just knows enough one can keep the soul from moving on, but I guess that has always been an option for people like Kemmler… until someone actually does stop them.

Good points! Point II is in line with my suggestion that Sir Stuart's ghost is one of the exceptional ones that gains new power sources so that he can grow and change.

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Knowing Uriel? Everytime he turns up souls are the only thing he cares about. The only thing he thinks are really important. It is all about souls with Uriel. Everything he does is about souls.

Empoying Sir Stuart is about souls as well

And once again, you prove that you haven't read my posts. Because I've already given at least two suggestions for how Uriel employing Sir Stuart's ghost could be about souls without requiring Sir Stuart's ghost to have one.

Offline Arjan

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #83 on: January 16, 2020, 03:25:11 AM »
Neither would I if I incorrectly distilled 4 known factual data points summarizing lines of evidence to support my interpretation down to "I think."  I'll note you didn't address any of the actual data points as being erroneous or the logic that leads from them to my conclusion.  Considering you obviously thus have a desire to not support the conclusion despite the weight of the evidence, I consider your lack of actual refutation as strong support. :) 

No one.  But it does run in family lines, and Sir Stuart is an ancestor and he has lasted a long time, which might be facilitated by there being other ectomancers in the line before Mort (i.e. if there wasn't, Sir Stuart would have had a very long quiet soul-destroying existence watching over a bunch of descendants who he couldn't actually help/interact with before getting to Morty).  Therefore, there is a greater than average (though admittedly 1% would be greater than average) chance that the line might have a predilection for ectomancy, and that might have included Sir Stuart himself.
I read it I just did not find it convincing in the light of the evidence I and others showed. You are too convinced that all shades are ghosts because google said so and explain everything in that light. You can do so but I do not think that is always the most likely explanation.
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Offline nadia.skylark

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #84 on: January 16, 2020, 04:28:58 AM »
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You are too convinced that all shades are ghosts because google said so and explain everything in that light. You can do so but I do not think that is always the most likely explanation.

This feels like it was addressed to me. The reason I believe that shades are ghosts is not "because google said so." My reasoning goes thusly:

        The word 'shade' is defined as 'ghost' in the dictionary.
             Therefore, unless it is defined, explicitly or implicitly, to mean something different in the Dresdenverse, that is what it means.
        The word 'shade' is not defined explicitly in the Dresdenverse at all.
             Therefore, unless it is defined implicitly to mean something different in the Dresdenverse, it still means 'ghost.'
        You have claimed that it is defined implicitly to mean something different in the Dresdenverse; however, you have not provided
        sufficient evidence to show that you are correct.
             Therefore, at this point in my logic, whether the word 'shade' is implicitly defined as something different in the Dresdenverse is
             inconclusive.
        Other people have provided evidence that shows that the word 'shade' is not implicitly defined as something different in the
        Dresdenverse.
             Therefore, the word 'shade' is not defined implicitly as something different in the Dresdenverse.
             Therefore, since the word 'shade' is not defined, explicitly or implicitly, in the Dresdenverse as meaning something different, its
             meaning in the Dresdenverse is the same as its dictionary meaning.
             Therefore, 'shade' means 'ghost.'

If you wish to establish that I am wrong, you must prove incorrect some piece of this logic.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2020, 03:21:57 PM by nadia.skylark »

Offline toodeep

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #85 on: January 16, 2020, 03:13:10 PM »
I read it I just did not find it convincing in the light of the evidence I and others showed. You are too convinced that all shades are ghosts because google said so and explain everything in that light. You can do so but I do not think that is always the most likely explanation.
Yah, nope.  You didn't read very thoroughly then; because I specifically pointed out in that post that:

I.   Shade is not just used to describe Stuart, Harry, and Capriocorpus in the book.  Sir Stuart says that many postal workers leave shades behind.... 

Therefore, it is clear the term shade is not used that decisively in the book.  I did use the term, and then defined, it in my post for clarity because for the purposes of conversation on the board it is useful to have a term that equals ghost plus soul, but I have no attachment to the term, nor is it critical to my argument in any way.  I have had no previous discussions about the term, and this is the first presentation of these points and none of them have been refuted by previous posts of which I am aware.  If you would be kind enough to provide a cogent rather than dismissive response that actually addresses what you feel the countervailing evidence is I would appreciate it.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2020, 03:21:03 PM by toodeep »

Offline Mira

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #86 on: January 16, 2020, 05:00:22 PM »


   I think we are trying to split hairs over a very grey area.   As Mab says, "death is a grey word.."  There is a huge spectrum when it comes to it from slightly alive, mostly dead, to all dead.. I think the terms, soul, spirit, ghost, shade also fall on a spectrum..  According to Uriel, we are not bodies with a soul, we are souls with a body, so when the body dies, what is left is the soul.. But then it gets murky, and in my opinion a huge grey area like death..  Is Captain Murphy merely a soul that isn't ready to be judged?  But is Sir Steward still a soul because he is very much a ghost?

Offline Bad Alias

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #87 on: January 17, 2020, 03:46:21 AM »
Because magical talent is often inherited so morty's talent makes it more likely that his ancestors had the same talent.

Sir Stuarts Shade having such a strong and lasting presense supports that idea as well. It points to a strong spirit in life which points to spiritual power which is what an ectomancer needs to fuel his magic. So Sir Stuart was maybe possibly the progenitor of a line of ectomancers. So this is good evidence that Sir Stuart has a soul?

Morty being an ectomancer just makes it more likely that Sir Stuart had the talent to stay behind as a shade just like Morty can probably do so if he wants to.
Dresden doesn't have the same affinities as his mother. He is similar to Eb in that he is a slugger. We don't really know enough about how talent is passed on to make a strong case for anything other than it is likely inherited and has to do with exposure to magic while developing.

Knowing Uriel? Everytime he turns up souls are the only thing he cares about. The only thing he thinks are really important. It is all about souls with Uriel. Everything he does is about souls.

Empoying Sir Stuart is about souls as well
But that doesn't mean Sir Stuart has a soul. Also, he says it's about "freedom" in this book, but I would argue that freedom requires a soul in the DF. In the panel discussion, Jim implies that humans are the only one making choices (exercising freedom).

@toodeep: What logic that leads from your factual data points? Harry went to Chicago Between. So? He also went to Chicago. Does that mean that everything in Chicago has to have a soul? Angels are active in the material world as well. We've see Uriel several times. We see the angel of death with Fr. Forthill. I don't see how Chicago Between being different from the material world would indicate that you have to have a soul to be there.

Your point two is your best point and why I am suspicious that Sir Stuart isn't just a ghost. If you look to the second post in this thread, you can see I said "Captain Murphy's task force seemed to be more than ghosts." I'd say Uriel's quote that you refer to proves it, except that he implies that "What Comes Next" is either Heaven or Hell (or something similar to our conceptions of such). But what comes next for Harry is Earth. So what comes next is demonstrably not limited to a place only souls can go to.

@Mira: Jim specifically says there are many different kinds of spiritual entities in the DF. I think souls, ghosts, creatures like Bob, etc. could all properly be called "spirits" but a ghost couldn't be called a soul and a soul couldn't be called a spirit. Now that doesn't mean that be a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Offline Yuillegan

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #88 on: January 17, 2020, 05:27:15 AM »
Bad Alias has hit on an important point here, and Mira is also right too. We are splitting hairs here.

However. PLEASE refer the my original post where Jim explains the difference between SOULS and GHOSTS. This isn't my speculation or someone else's. This is Jim explaining his ideas about the universe he has created. Use this to inform your theories please, as this whole thread is starting to become derailed into arguments.

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Offline toodeep

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Re: Souls and Ghosts.
« Reply #89 on: January 17, 2020, 07:13:38 PM »
@toodeep: What logic that leads from your factual data points? Harry went to Chicago Between. So? He also went to Chicago. Does that mean that everything in Chicago has to have a soul? Angels are active in the material world as well. We've see Uriel several times. We see the angel of death with Fr. Forthill. I don't see how Chicago Between being different from the material world would indicate that you have to have a soul to be there.

Your point two is your best point and why I am suspicious that Sir Stuart isn't just a ghost. If you look to the second post in this thread, you can see I said "Captain Murphy's task force seemed to be more than ghosts." I'd say Uriel's quote that you refer to proves it, except that he implies that "What Comes Next" is either Heaven or Hell (or something similar to our conceptions of such). But what comes next for Harry is Earth. So what comes next is demonstrably not limited to a place only souls can go to.

To try to address your points somewhat in order:
1.  Harry went to Chicago as well as "in-between" thus indicating that "in-between" is nothing special. - My points are lines of evidence, one chair leg alone can be called a stick, but together they are chair legs.  It goes with the other points in that we know Harry has a soul and he went there.  Alone it is meaningless, but when combined with the other points that everything we saw there had a soul (or just flat out was a soul, which might be the difference between "in between" and the spirit world Chicago).  Honestly I think the stronger point of them was that while he drove around with Carmichael he saw no wraiths or other remnants of ghosts, while he often saw those things in spirit-Chicago.  The only things active there were/had souls.

2.  Angels everywhere - I don't consider Uriel much of an indicator since he now comes when Harry calls.  Your point about the angel of death was a good one, but I will note was explicitly there to guard Forthill's soul.  Honestly it strengthens the arguments about angels only being involved where there are souls - and that guard angel "in betwee" appeared to be permanently stationed there.

3. "What comes next" may not be heaven or hell, might be applicable to ghosts - Again, not that strong an argument.  We are a soul, we have a body.  Ghosts can't possess people according to Stuart, that is the pervue of demons.  So for Harry to go into his body, maybe for any ghost to go into any body (i.e. capriocorpus) they need to have their soul along with them.

But as I've been writing this I started thinking more about the nature of in-between and what it might mean.  In between consisted of "everything that might have been."  That seems to me like a mashing together of all the different realities.  We know other realities exist because we've been told about Mirror mirror, and I think we've been given two glimpses of them or things connecting to them - In between, and Harry's dream in Skin Game where he contacts Molly.  I can't help but assume this is going to be important in the future, but I can't quite see how it applies right now.  But it did make me question what happens with souls when new realities are created.  We are going to see a reality created by a Harry making a different choice than the one he made previously in the books.  Before that choice there was one reality, one Harry (ignoring all the other multiverses for this), and 1 Harry soul.  Afterward there was 2 of each.  Copying bodies etc is no big deal, but suddenly having two souls for every ensouled creature seems like a really big deal!  Did the souls split, did God make a copy, do they share a soul?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Considering alternate Harry is supposed to summon him to get him dead, I assume they don't share a soul and will either be saved or damned on their actions alone.

I'm assuming angels and a bunch of other beings span the multiverse, though.  I expect there is only one "lasciel" for instance, though I assume she has a different coin and host in each reality.  The perception of the other realities helps them with their "we know so much" routine because they know how the exact same action might have turned out in a neighboring reality.   

I can't help but wonder if that helps reflect on the nature of souls and reality and that only souls can go in-between, but there is certainly nothing certain in these thoughts.