I’d forgotten how much I loved Isabela, but I really, really do, and I’m discovering new reasons constantly as I play.
The handing back Merrill’s Dalish amulet.
How she’s trying really hard not to go wobbly-lipped when you give her the ship in a bottle, and with a couple of things.
How sort of… not obviously, but quietly surprised and pleased she is when Hawke is kind to her.
“Somebody needs a spanking!”
Her hatred for slavers and those who prey on the vulnerable; the way you’ll instantly lose approval if you try to make excuse and allowances for people who abuse and denigrate women. (The murder-mystery quest has two examples of this at least.)
Similarly, her instant approval gains if you go after slavers and don’t bother to dignify their excuses.
Merrill: “I want your life.” Isabela: “No, you don’t.” Merrill: “Why?” Isabela: “Because you have a good heart, and you don’t deserve it.” Yup, that breaks my heart every time.
The way she’s the only one who can almost always get a laugh out of Anders and Fenris, even in Act 2. And they both get on with her.
“I don’t want to argue.” And she means it. She’s one of the kindest and most conciliatory companions out there, she’s just quiet about it.
See also: if Fenris goes after Merrill during Mirror Image with, “You are a monster,” Isabela’s, “You’re not helping.”
How she is with Carver and messes with him, but is actually quite kind to him and seems to have faith in him finding himself and his confidence, which is why she’s prodding him. She’s one of the few companions other than Merrill who doesn’t rag on him or insult him too much.
“I want freedom. For everyone.”
The little chats with Varric about writing, and the way they laugh together.
“Our mistakes make us who we are.”
How much she wants Hawke to believe in her; how she underestimates herself and her moral fibre all the time, all the while making quiet shows of integrity and trying to be the person she thinks Hawke views her as. And that happens even on the Friendship route.
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