About

Both of her parents are Antivan; her mother a matchmaker and her father a crow. While her mother was devoted to the idea of a family, her father was not so thrilled. He deserts his family when Isidora is only three; she has no memory of her birth father, and she is thankful for it.

At nine, Isidora and her mother leave Antiva City to move to Val Royeaux. Having heard how romanticized Orlesian nobility tend to be, the girl’s mother thought her talents would be well sought in the political world of Royeaux. She certainly wasn’t wrong.

Isidora’s mother is eventually approached by a woman seeking to find a match for her widowed son, Laurent: a wealthy, former Chevalier. In true rom-com fashion, the two fall in love and the man becomes Isidora’s step-father by her eleventh birthday. She grows to admire and love Laurent, eventually regarding him as the father figure she’d always lacked as a child.

Her step father has a son— Martan— that Isidora comes to adore just as much. The young swordsman has dreams of becoming a respected knight, just like his father, and is something of a melodramatic romantic. He’s four years Isidora’s senior, but the two are still incredibly close. They share a deep love for theatrics.

She willingly goes to the circle and remains there for seven years until the destruction of the conclave. Her stay was anything but unpleasant; her only complaint being the torment of boredom and humorless nature of resident Templars.

Regardless of where she’s lived, Isidora has always had a cushy life. In Antiva, she lived comfortably. In Orlais, she lived comfortably. And within the circle, she was content- the girl’s never had to suffer any actual real world problems. Isidora is well aware of this little factoid, and is cripplingly ashamed of it. While melodramatic and sassy, it’s very rare that Isidora will voice herself when uncomfortable. She feels as though she doesn’t have the right to gripe and moan about her troubles because of how much worse others have it (particularly after she joins the Inquisition). She tends to internalize problems, refusing to express personal woes when she is acutely keen on how shitty everyone else has it.

Having lived a good portion of her life in Orlais, Isidora is more than familiar with the game. She’s cleverly crafted her very own masked persona through the years and wears it flawlessly: charming, spirited, refined, witty, likable. She fears being judged, being stripped of her mask and seen for the scared little girl she really is. While she doesn’t believe herself a bad person, she does believe that the mask is a better alternative- that if she does open herself up to others, her true self will be shattered under the weight of personal and outside expectations. It’s much easier to play a part then have to face reality after all.