Isabela’s return

Dragon Age II is all about years of civil unrest bubbling to the surface of one city, and between the conflict with the stranded Qunari and the Mage/Templar War, the former is certainly handled with more care than the latter. While early Dragon Age games had multiple crisis points in which party members can leave the party or betray you, one of the most memorable is when one party member makes a decision not to leave, but to return. Isabela is the cause of the Qunari’s extended stay in Kirkwall, and when she’s given the chance to run off with a tome they have been searching for, she takes it. If you’ve not established a solid enough friendship or rivalry with her, she will never return. If you have, she makes a big hero’s entrance just as the Qunari are about to strike down what remains of the city. She attempts to make amends, showing the growth she’s been trying her damnedest to avoid since arriving in the city. But then the Qunari leader says she still must answer for her crimes. You can give her up and betray her, or you can fight for her instead, and seeing her be big enough to not sell you and the rest of Kirkwall out for once in her life is one of Dragon Age II’s most memorable companion moments.