Making friends in RPGs is usually pretty straightforward. You meet someone, help them figure something out, and boom, you’ve got yourself a new friend. Before you know it, they start following you around everywhere and even risk their lives for you. If someone asked, it’s likely that you’d say you’re ready to do the same for them.

Unfortunately, not every companion deserves your trust. As it turns out, there’s no way to know who will eventually turn against you, and considering how much time players spend getting attached to RPG characters, their betrayal usually comes completely out of the blue.

Party members can make or break an RPG, and these games did an incredible job of making these characters feel real.

In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, players can join several factions, including the Thieves Guild, a criminal organization that the Dragonborn becomes a member of. That's where they meet Mercer Frey. He initially seems like an experienced thief trying to keep the organization together, but during the quest "Speaking With Silence," things take a rather unpleasant turn. Mercer accompanies the Dragonborn into the Snow Veil Sanctum to find Karliah, a former guild member accused of murdering Gallus, the previous Guildmaster.

When they finally find her, she shoots the Dragonborn with a poisoned arrow that causes paralysis. Unable to move, the protagonist witnesses a confrontation that reveals how Mercer was actually responsible for Gallus's murder and deliberately framed Karliah. At the end of this quest, Mercer stabs the Dragonborn and leaves them for dead, although Karliah eventually returns to save them.

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