Spoilers When this character/actor showed up to Sam in “Series Acclimation Mil”, was it his spirit?
I edited the thread title so as to not include any spoilers. There‘s still lots of people who haven‘t watched these episodes, so let‘s try and not spoil it for them in a thread title that‘s visible to everyone on the main page. 
As for your question: No, I didn‘t understand Jake to be a Prophet taking his form. It was more like a visualization of SAM having quickly scanned/read his unpublished book and thus being able to basically have a conversation with him in her mind. The understanding she gained about him through reading it was merely visualized as a conversation.
As for your question: No, I didn‘t understand Jake to be a Prophet taking his form. It was more like a visualization of SAM having quickly scanned/read his unpublished book and thus being able to basically have a conversation with him in her mind. The understanding she gained about him through reading it was merely visualized as a conversation.
My head canon is that this is just how SAM processed the information. She did say, "thanks for writing it down". But, honestly, this is one of those situations where the truth can be whatever you want it to be. I think it was built that way intentionally.
It was either imaginary or a holographic program built into it that played internally. Same as how the projections of the Kasquians could only be seen by her.
I love that the episode doesn't actually make it concrete just what that version of Jake we see at the end is. Nor does it spell out just how or whether The Sisko came back to the family physically. Kinda rare these days that mainstream media will leave something up to the interpretation of the viewer.
Yeah, Jake’s line at the end does leave a lot of room for different interpretations: “You know, all those things that you think he missed? He didn’t. He was always there. He never really left us. I can’t prove it, but I know it’s true.” He could mean it figuratively, but you can also read it literally. We also can't forget that he’s likely meant to represent whatever knowledge the actual Jake chose to include in “Anslem”. If he decided to keep his father’s return a secret to the world, but still hint at what actually happened in a mysterious way, then that’s how he could have put it down in the book.
It was basically Sam doing what Geordi did with Leah Brahms in the TNG episode Booby Trap.
IE using gathered data and personal logs to create a "close to accurate" simulation of the person.
IE using gathered data and personal logs to create a "close to accurate" simulation of the person.
I interpreted the vision of Jake as either: a) a simulation SAM’s imagination compiled based on reading the things Jake said in the book; b) a symbolic representation for dramatic effect of the things SAM read Jake saying in the book and the questions she formulated in response (because just watching her sit there reading and thinking wouldn't have told the audience much); or c) an actual Prophet vision of sorts due to the Emissary vibes imbued within the book. Although I think SAM asking Jake if he’d disappear makes b) unlikely, but doesn't rule it out entirely given how much the episode erodes the fourth wall.
