Isabela

"Our mistakes make us who we are."

Isabela is the captain of the pirate ship Siren's Call. She can teach the Duelist specialization to the Warden in Dragon Age: Origins, and is an optional companion as well a romance option for either male or female Hawke in Dragon Age II.

Background
Isabela's birth name is Naishe. However, when she became a pirate the first ship's captain she served under began to call her "Isabela," his "little beauty," as a joke. She eventually adopted the name as her pseudonym. She is originally from Rivain, but has traveled extensively throughout the world of Thedas. Her mother converted to the Qun during the Qunari occupation of Rivain and sold Isabela into marriage with a business associate of the Antivan Crows, Luis, when she refused to convert. Luis was a rich man, buying Isabela many fine things, but the marriage was loveless and she was treated as his "plaything." She ultimately had Luis assassinated by Zevran Arainai after he asked her to "entertain" his friends. She then stole Luis' ship, the Siren's Call, and took up the pirate's life. Isabela became extremely promiscuous, and soon became a raider--the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Eastern Seas."

Isabela's parents
Isabela speaks anecdotally of her mother in Dragon Age II through the post-sex conversation with Hawke of how Luis came to purchase Isabela from her mother. Isabela's quest-related conversation also indicates her feelings toward her mother, and her mother's overall personality. After the events of All That Remains a romanced Isabela will say to Hawke, "At least your mother loved you. Not everyone can say that." Similarly, if she is present while speaking to Arianni when beginning Wayward Son, she will comment that Feynriel is lucky to have a caring mother.

Much less is known about Isabela's father as she apparently never knew him. During Legacy, if Hawke has an aggressive/direct response when asked about learning about his/her father, she will reply, "Well, I think your father sounds like someone worth knowing. According to my mother, my father wasn't. Not even for one night."

During Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, more is revealed about Isabela's mother and her possible fate. Isabela's mother was devoted to the Qun, sneaking off to the temple in the village to be educated in it. When asked by Isabela what happened to her mother, Rasaan replies that Isabela's mother is probably among the viddathari of Par Vollen, "serving the Qun, working the fields, and treasured by all," though she cannot be certain without consulting her records.

Lore discrepancies
Isabela provides differing accounts of her purchase by Luis and the circumstances of his assassination in Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, and Dragon Age: Those Who Speak.

Romancing Isabela in Dragon Age II provides more insight into her marriage to Luis. In post-sex conversation with Hawke she will state that Luis purchased her after seeing her in a market in Llomerryn with her mother because he "had to have" her, and that her mother sold her for a goat and a handful of gold coins. However, in Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, she claims that her mother sold her to Luis because she refused to convert to the Qun.

If Isabela is romanced in Dragon Age II she will also claim that she did not have Luis killed. However, in Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, she claims to have ordered his assassination.

It is unknown if these discrepancies in her accounts of these events were intended by the developers.

Dragon Age: Origins
Isabela can be found at The Pearl along with her first mate Casavir. She is arguing with three other men. Soon afterwards a fight breaks out however she manages to defeat the group of men due to her superior dueling skills. Her ship is staying in Denerim to let her men fill up on supplies and other "pleasures". Zevran knows her from before and—if brought along—will announce that she is the "Queen of the Eastern Seas and the sharpest blade in Llomerryn".

In order to convince Isabela to teach the Duelist specialization, there are two options: Beat her in a game of cards named Wicked Grace, or "get to know each other better" by following her to bed.

To beat Isabela in the card game, the Warden will have to be dexterous enough to catch her cheating or subtle enough to cheat. If Zevran or Leliana are in the party, they can also help the Warden to win, but will only offer assistance if their approval is high enough.

For Isabela to take the Warden up on his/her offer to get to know her better, the Warden will have to be persuasive (Coercion * 25 + Cunning bonus must be at least 75, so three points in coercion by itself will do the trick regardless of cunning). If the Warden is in a romance (love) with Morrigan, an unhardened Leliana or an unhardened Alistair, then the Warden's romance partner will publicly disapprove and Isabela will not go to bed with the Warden. However, if either Leliana or Alistair is not only in a love-relationship with the Warden but has also been "hardened" following their personal quests, then they will actually join in the fun for a threesome (or possibly a foursome) and their approval will increase. If Zevran is in the party, Isabela will invite him as well (regardless of his relationship status with the Warden). If the Warden accepts, Zevran's approval will increase. Nevertheless Zevran will decline the offer if Alistair is included. The following combinations are thus possible:


 * Isabela-Warden
 * Isabela-Warden-Leliana
 * Isabela-Warden-Zevran
 * Isabela-Warden-Alistair (female Warden only)
 * Isabela-Warden-Leliana-Zevran

Once the Duelist specialization has been learned from her, Isabela will have no further dialogue or interactions.

Reactions and approval

 * If Leliana has been flirted with but her personality has not been hardened by the time Isabela is spoken to, she will get jealous and ask, "What about us?", which will cause Isabela to take back her offer to sleep with the Warden.
 * If the Warden is female but not in a relationship with Alistair, he will wonder if he's dreaming, and then say that he's going to jump in the ocean. This doesn't occur if Leliana or Zevran joins in.
 * Morrigan is not nearly as open-minded about Isabela as the other romanceable companions. She will strongly disapprove if Isabela is bedded and tell the Warden to rinse off the stench after they are done "rolling around in the gutter". If the Warden is romantically involved with Morrigan a different dialogue occurs. Morrigan gets furious and states that she will not touch the Warden again if he goes through with it. The Warden will not be allowed to bed Isabela in this case. (The only way then is to make sure she is not in the party.)
 * (If the Warden is female and Oghren is in the party, he will faint if the Warden and Leliana go to bed with Isabela.)

Inviting a companion to bed with Isabela nets the following approval changes:


 * if he joins.
 * if she joins and the Warden is female.
 * if Isabela's invitation for him to join is accepted.
 * if Isabela's invitation for him to join is denied

Friendship and rivalry
Isabela values fun, freedom and getting ahead; she responds well to sarcasm. Jokes, flirting and a Hawke who solves problems in particularly clever and devious ways will delight her. She also approves if Hawke is slightly selfish in dealing with other people, trying to squeeze a little extra money out of them.

Getting involved in other people's business tends to annoy Isabela, so helping a character just for the sake of helping and not asking for a reward will often earn her ire. She also generally disapproves of rules and authority and attempts by Hawke to enforce rules on other people (especially her).

Another thing to note is that in some cases, Isabela will also respond well to Hawke's decision to not get involved at all in matters of no immediate concern to Hawke or his companions. Butting in to personal discussions, disagreements, and the like will sometimes irk Isabela. This is especially true with people Hawke has never met before.

Quests
Act 1

Act 2

(gift)

Act 3

(gift)

Mark of the Assassin

Gifts

 * A model Ship in a Bottle can be found in a chest during the quest Blackpowder Courtesy in Act 2 when traveling through the smuggler's caves (in a chest near some stairs).
 * Rivaini Talisman can be found in Act 3 in the Disused Passage at the Docks.

Armor
Upgrades to Isabela's armor, Threads of the Eastern Seas, can be found at the following locations:
 * Act 2 – – available at Robes by Jean Luc in Hightown. Extra rune slot.
 * Act 2 – – available at Apparel Shop (Tailor) in Lowtown. +(0.25 * DEF(LVL)) defense.
 * Act 2 – – found at the Lost End Foundry in Lowtown during the To Catch a Thief quest, in a crate in one of the upstairs rooms. +2% critical chance.
 * Act 3 – – found in a Mountain Cave during the A Murder of Crows quest, on a skeleton near the entrance. Extra rune slot.

If Isabela is romanced, she will update her outfit with a black corset, added goldwork embroidery to the bottom hem of her sash, a red scarf around her right bicep, and replaces the leather pauldron on her left shoulder with a metal one.

Other
– starting dagger – starting dagger – requires Rogue Item Pack – requires Rogue Item Pack II – requires Mark of the Assassin – requires Mark of the Assassin

Dragon Age: Origins

 * "Be off with you now, and be glad I only took from you your gold! Heh. Fools..."

Dragon Age II

 * "Sailing is like sex. Do it wrong, and it'll make you sick. But do it right, and there's no feeling in the world like it."
 * "And then Isabela went to the chantry, and saw that it was boring. Canticle of Isabela, stanza one, verse one."
 * "When you get right down to it, we're not responsible for anyone but ourselves. You can choose to be free, or you can choose to be saddled with all the world's problems."
 * "I like big boats, I cannot lie."
 * "Don't bet anything you're not prepared to lose."
 * "You see, sweetness, men are only good for one thing. Women are good for six."
 * "Shit. What have you gotten yourself into this time, Isabela?"

Trivia

 * Isabela was written by Sheryl Chee for Dragon Age 2, but David Gaider wrote Isabela for The Silent Grove comic series. This likely explains discrepancies between what is stated in the game and what is stated in the comics.
 * Mika Simmons does not voice Isabela in Dragon Age 2 as she did in Origins; this is to reduce confusion, as she also voiced Anora in Origins.
 * According to David Gaider, Isabela always had dark skin. Gaider says the promo art of her being pale is a marketing error. In Origins, she is actually dark skinned, but the lighting of the game makes her pale. You can check this by putting her model into the DA Toolset and seeing it without the Pearl's bad lighting.
 * In both games, the player meets Isabela as she is being attacked by three men in a bar brawl, who are handily beaten by her and forced to flee.
 * If you don't recruit Isabela during Act 1, the game will continue normally. All that happens is that you will never find out what kind of Relic was stolen from the Qunari.
 * In Dragon Age II, she will remember her sexual encounter with the Warden, or lack thereof, at the Pearl in Origins.
 * If you take Isabela into the Deep Roads she may comment nervously on how she "really doesn't like tight spaces", implying that she is claustrophobic.
 * Upon meeting King Alistair in Viscount's Keep, Alistair will say that Isabela looks different, to which Isabela will respond "Don't we all." This is probably an in-game joke referring to the changes in character appearance between the games. If imported from Origins where Alistair is exiled or selecting the "No Compromise" backstory, Alistair will be found intoxicated in The Hanged Man, where Isabela and Alistair will not recognize each other. She will say he's been ranting about being the "Prince of Ferelden" all day and he will say she sounds like Morrigan.
 * When imagining a single note scent for Isabela, Sheryl Chee likened her to "spice trade, chocolate mousse and unearthed."
 * The general similarity between aspects of Duncan's armor and that of Isabela appears to be indicative of a Rivaini style of armor.
 * Based on conversation between Hawke and Isabela in Dragon Age II after Fools Rush In, Isabela appears to have been a captain for approximately 10 years, as she indicates she has known some of her crew almost that long.

Bugs

 * In the recruiting quest "Fools Rush In", if the player loots the corpses before instructed, it is impossible to recruit Isabela.
 * Every time you go to the Qunari Compound with Isabela she will disappear with an "excuse". However if you speak to her while she is talking, she stops what she's saying and stays with you in the Qunari Compound.
 * If Hawke has slept with Isabela and pursues a romance with Merrill, it will put the former's romance in a sort of a "ghost" state making impossible for the Merrill's romance to be completed. This means that the romance dialogues of Isabela still play properly, but in certain situations the game won't acknowledge the fact that it's still active (like making the threesome with Zevran impossible, missing companion interactions, endgame outcomes, etc.).
 * This bug can be fixed by using the console commands "runscript zz_app_debug" or "runscript zz_isa_debug" and adjusting Isabela's romance flag to "Active". This has been tested only with the Zevran threesome dialogue which it fixes, but has not been tested with any other situations and it may break other things.
 * If Isabela is romanced, her outfit may not properly update to the newer version. Using the Maker's Sigh potion from the Black Emporium to respec her skills will update her outfit, picking up any armor upgrades for her also seems to work. It has been reported that her romance outfit can also be triggered by pressing the "Escape" key right after the bed scene (PC only).
 * Prior to patch 1.03, if the Supportive Corselet was purchased before armor change, rune slot didn't properly carry over to the new armor. It would disappear and reappear empty later, at the beginning of Act 3.
 * It is possible that Varric will say that she stayed with the Champion, indicating that she was romanced, even if another companion was romanced. This may happen even if she has left the party.
 * Varric will mention Isabela on the docks during the Rise of the Qunari quest regardless of whether of not she was recruited in Act 1.
 * Occasionally Isabela will turn completely white apart from her face before the final battle in Act 3.
 * If the Tome is given to Isabela, it is sometimes possible for you to have a scene with her in the Hawke Estate. This can be triggered by speaking to Dog.
 * If the Legacy DLC is installed and you sleep with Isabela, but do not pursue a romance she may still receive her romance armor.