From the moment Hawke first meets Isabela in Dragon Age II, it is clear she's trouble. But for the avid Dragon Age player, the second game wasn't their first encounter with the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Eastern Seas." Isabela was a side-quest option in Origins, where the player character could challenge her to a game of Wicked Grace and convince her to teach them the Duelist specialization.
Flirtatious and playful, Isabela makes no bones about propositioning the player to sleep with her, and if Zevran, Leliana and Alistair are also in the party, there is potential for her proposition to become a full-blown orgy. Upon meeting her in Kirkwall during the second game, it becomes clear early on that she's as daring as she is promiscuous. But beneath her tough exterior is a heart in need of something more.
Isabela guards herself rather effectively, but some of her history is reveals in Origins. She was once married to a man named Luis, whom Zevran assassinated in an attempt to free her from the boredom and cruelty of her marriage. Getting to know Isabela reveals she was forced into the marriage by her mother into the marriage after refusing to convert to the Qun. Luis was kind enough at first, lavishing his beautiful young wife with expensive jewels and clothes and hiring tutors to teach her to read and write.
However, Isabela soon grew bored and began testing the boundaries of her marriage -- and her husband's patience. Luis eventually grew tired of her games and plotted to sell her to a business associate who'd shown an interest in her. Luis was found a week later dead in his bed. Though Zevran openly admitted to the killing, whether or not Isabela contracted the Antivan Crow for the job is never confirmed. Zevran and Isabela were involved, but whether there was actually romance between them is debatable.
With her newfound freedom, Isabela left the house the same night Luis was killed with nothing but a sack of jewels and two daggers that were given to her by Zevran. She used the jewels to bribe sailors into helping her take over her husband's ship, The Siren's Call, but the sailors abandoned her after they arrived in Llomeryn. Unable to sail on her own, she dueled a man named Jackdaw, who agreed to help her find a crew and work if she won the duel -- which she did.
Isabela spent 10 years raiding as captain of the Siren's Call before circumstances she refused to elaborate on landed her in Kirkwall right around the time of the Qunari occupation. With her ship destroyed, she had no choice but to stick around a while. When Hawke first encounters her in the Hanged Man tavern, she's in the midst of a brawl.
She appeals to Hawke to help her with a crime lord named Castillon, whom she had fallen out of favor with. When asked about the situation, she reveals that she'd been working as a smuggler, but after discovering she was smuggling slaves, she wanted nothing to do with it. She freed the slaves and, in his anger, Castillon ordered her to retrieve a mysterious and valuable relic to pay off her debt to him.
Isabela retrieves the relic, but soon thereafter loses her ship, crew and the relic to a storm when they're dashed on the reefs near Kirkwall. Castillon sends an enforcer to attack her, but Hawke and party drive him off, and Isabela has the option to become a member of Hawke's party. With the relic always hanging over her, it's certain Castillon won't back off, but it becomes apparent every time Hawke is forced to speak with the Qunari Arishok that Isabela is hiding something. She'll mysteriously leave the party and refuse to go into the Qunari-occupied area of Kirkwall .
In Act Two, as tensions with the Qunari come to a head, Isabela asks Hawke to help find the relic -- the Qunari Tome of Koslun. After retrieving it, Isabela steals the relic and leaves the party, either temporarily or permanently depending on her relationship with Hawke. If Hawke's approval rating with Isabela is high enough (or if she'd been romanced), Isabela returns, claiming Hawke's influence convinced her to do the right thing. She'll hand the tome back to the Arishok. The Arishok, however, still demands she pay for what she has done, forcing Hawke to either turn her over to the Qunari or face the Arishok in combat.
Regardless of the player character's choice, Isabela goes on to appear in the Dark Horse companion comics, The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep alongside Varric and Alistair. Though she does not appear in Dragon Age: Inquisition, she will work as a field agent, running raids for the Inquisition.
With the next Dragon Age game rumored to be heading further north into the Tevinter Imperium, it is possible players might find themselves in need of a good ship captain to get them where they want to go. Who better to ferry them across the waters than the notorious Queen of the Eastern Seas? While there's no guarantee Isabela will make another appearance in the future, the door is certainly open for her return.