I created this thread so people can speculate on what this fade divine really was, and how it related to the real divine.
When the party is thrown physically in the fade, they encounter a certain entity which looks exactly like the Divine, speaks like her, and according to conversation with Cassandra and Leliana, had a very similar behaviour (calm and helpful) than the real divine.
We learn that the Divine died at Haven, we don´t know if in the explosion or because she was devoured by demons in the fade - as the memory of the inquisitor shows. The memories of the inquisitor are interesting because none of them match exactly with the intro of the game. At the intro we see this spirit extending her arm to the inquisitor, and from the connection with her fingers some green sparks start appearing from her hand, going into the inquisitor.
Thus it made sense to think that she granted the mark to the inquisitor in the fade. However in the real world, the inquisitor got the mark by picking up the elven orb who was conveniently activated and ready to just tap into it to get the anchor.
The inquisitor can wonder what this fade entity really was, he is given several options like: she is the soul justinia, she is a spirit that watched over justinia, she is a memory of justinia. If you ask this fade divine, she says things are not simple and that she may be nothing of those things or all of them.
Here is my theory about what happened, feel free to comment or share your own theories.
The divine you meet is a spirit of Faith who was watching over Justinia, but she also knew Leliana and Cassandra personally. She was disappointed how Leliana had lost her faith after the explosion at Haven (the game shows leliana´s doubts several times), and felt like she had failer her. She also refuses to tell you who she is, wanting you to have faith in her and believe what you want - she also does not claim to be Andraste, but speaks like she believes in the Maker.
In the real world, the divine died at the explosion as the spirit of faith tried but failed to protect her - even though she was watching. You are saved because you have the anchor, so you enter the fade during the explosion, avoiding death. Corypheus survives because he is immortal, he just migrated to some warden or blighted creature when his body died. The next memory shows a scene with the inquisitor being pursued by spiders, and "Justinia" and the inquisitor in the fade. "Justinia" says: the demons! , so even if they look like spiders, this Justinia clearly knew very quickly they were demons - this points to her being a spirit and recognising them quickly, even if they look like spiders, the fade is her turf so it makes sense. The inquisitor however does not know what he is running from, it looks like spiders, but he just says at the intro "things were chasing me".
While in the fade, this spirit takes the form of Justinia to guide you to a rift to the real world, and makes sure that you escape through - even if she has stay behind. She also may be the one that helps you unlock the anchor so it sticks to you permanently, so that Corypheus could not remove it from you when he tried.
The spirit is made up of faith emotions, so she was attracted to Justinia, Leliana and Cassandra, possibly because their faith made her stronger. She also wants to help out and do good, and it is possible that Justinia´s soul upon dead coalesced into this spirit, thus giving it the ability to take her form. The spirit felt he failed the divine by not saving her, and Leliana by letting her lose her faith, therefore she is very willing to make up for it and as a spirit she knows how important is to foil Corypheus plan to break open the black city (and possibly unleast the taint), so like she says "i am here to help you" - she does everything she can to help you from the very beginning of the game.
In conclusion, i think she is mainly a spirit of faith, but she probably took the essence of Justinia after she died, plus have been feeding on all the faith of people like Cassandra, Leliana, etc. so she was powerful enough to strike a blow agaisnt the nightmare, but she probably died as an individual entity - like Solas says in his quest about her friend.
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