The absolute saddest moment in all of Dragon Age II…
…is the beginning of Fenris’ companion quest in Act III. He tells you that he’s actually found the sister he was only recently told he had, she is in fact not a slave, and he’s sent her enough coin to get on a ship and come meet him. Fenris is terrified that it’s a trap set by his former master (read: “owner”) Garius in an attempt to recapture him and asks you to come with him to meet her. At the very end of the cut-scene, the camera closes in on Fenris’ face as he looks away and grimaces, and then looks back at Hawke almost sheepishly pleading and says, “It would mean a lot to me… it’s all I ask.”
The cut scene then fades to black and is over. This is certainly a sad enough tale as it stands right there, but the clincher is immediately after the cut-scene when you actually acquire the quest to meet his sister: the quest is called “Alone”.
/cry
The relative sadness factor of this story to someone unfamiliar with the storyline is probably rather low, but if you’ve played DAII you know exactly what I’m talking about. Even if you haven’t though, you can infer from that title just how this quest is going to go… I can see how some players might find Fenris self-righteous and aggravating and therefore wouldn’t much care about his lonely fate, and I can see how some players could argue that the deaths of Hawke’s various family members throughout the game are more heart-wrenching as well. But as a female player attempting to romance the guy on my first play-through this was the moment that most tugged at my heart strings. Poor Fenris <3
